Strength to Continue
by AnmlLvr
Summary: I'm Pregnant,Horray!Groan sequel.Zach 14,Elizabeth Lizzy 13.While Lizzy is trying to figure out what the family is,Zach's girlfriend,Ashley, is kidnapped by a vamp.from her past.She's droping clues,but can Zach find out what they mean before it's too late
1. What is this family!

Disclaimer: K, someone reviewed I'm Pregnant saying I wrote better than SM. Truly, I think that's impossible, I'm barely getting an A- in English, for goodness sakes! Even so, if this is possible, I'm still not her. *sniffle* I'm heart-broken!

This is a sequel to my story I'm Pregnant, Horray!Groan. Read that first, for this to make an ounce of sence. Also, I love my readers, so I uploaded this before I sent it to my beta. So, It's got a TON of mistakes, I'm sure. I know it's short. But it's something, right?!

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ZachPOV

I was holed up in my room. It was my sister's, what I call, Crabby Week. The week before the week when, shall we say, all vampires with bloodlust difficulties should avoid teenage girls. For me, I just stayed out of her way during her Crabby Week. It was safer. I was REALLY tempted to send out my protection bubble, but Elizabeth didn't know about vampires or anything. A big blue bubble sending her flying would probably just terrify her. Just as I was contemplating why the heck I just HAD to feel so protective of her I could scare her to keep myself safe, my door burst open to reveal my enraged sister.

"ZACH CULLEN!" She screamed at me. Crap, what did I do NOW that deserved death?!

"Yes?" I asked, trying to remain calm. Maybe dad would come save me. Then again, he knew what she was thinking, but not what I was thinking, so he was probably just as scared as I was. That option was out.

"DON'T YOU ASK WHAT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW! WHY, TELL ME WHY, IS MY PHONE LINE DISCONNECTED!" What! OK, that I didn't do.

"I don't know."

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" She stomped out, slamming the door behind her. That went better than I thought it would. Seconds later, she slowly opened the door.

"Z…Z…Zach?" She asked in a trembling voice. Oh, dear. Did I make her cry?

"Yes, Lizzy?"

"I, I'm sorry." She said. I held out my arms, and she came over and sat on my bed with me, crying. "I don't know what came over me. I, I'm so sorry. I guess I've just been under a lot of stress lately. Plus, well, ah, never mind that part." I'd let her think I didn't know what week it was.

"It's all right. Why are you under stress? If Hannah's bothering you again, I swear-" but I broke off when she laughed. Well, more of a snort/giggle. Oh, how stupid of me to think the girl who constantly tortured her was at it again.

"No, it's not her. It's just, well, promise not to be mad?" I nodded. This usually preceded something like, 'why do you seem to care about Ashley more than me?', or 'what is this?' (With the action of holding up some object that's strictly "guy stuff." To which I reply by hiding my face and telling her to ask mom. I mean, do I come into her room and ask her what different feminine hygiene products are?! I think not!).

"Okay, well, I know the family; mom, dad, Granddad, Grandma, Aunt Alice, Uncle Jasper, Aunt Rosalie, and Uncle Emmett-even you! So probably me, too, I guess-aren't exactly human. I don't know what they, or we, I suppose, are. I've been looking everywhere trying to figure it out! No idea." I stiffened. It was true, she was the only one that didn't know the family consisted of vampires and half-vamps. Even my girlfriend, Ashley, knew. I didn't tell her, she knew before I met her. She's human, so I don't know how she knows. She just does.

"Will, will YOU tell me?" Elizabeth asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I couldn't, I promised mom and dad, although it didn't seem fair.

"How's this, Lizzy? I promised mom and dad I wouldn't tell, and I won't. But I will tell you this, no one is human. Don't let them lie to you. Go sit mom and dad down and make them tell you. Don't let them sway you. You're persistent. I know you'll get an answer," and with that, I left my sister to face my parent's wrath. Ha ha.


	2. What they are, what we are

Disclaimer:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

If you don't know I don't own Twilight

You're as dumb as glue!

Stupid disclaimer, I know, but I had to do something besides the traditional (say in robot voice) I don't own Twilight, I don't own Twilight, I am from planet Zolog, I don't own Twilight.

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ElizabethPOV:

I walked down the stairs in a huff. Zach wouldn't tell me, so I sure as HECK was going to get an answer from mom and dad. I walked into the living room where dad was playing the piano (he was obsessed with the thing!) with mom sitting next to him with that semi-annoying dreamy face. Okay, maybe things weren't _that _bad, but I was pissed off, so it sure seemed annoying.

"Okay, enough is enough. Please, sorry to be rude, but I'm tired of being lied to, so just move quickly to the couch and sit." They looked at each other mystified, but they complied. I started to pace in front of them.

"I want the _truth,_" I said. _Because if they aren't human, then I'm either adopted or half whatever, and I want to know what!_ I saw dad stiffen. I had no idea why, but then again, did I care?

"You're not human. Neither is ANYONE in this family! I want to know what everyone is!"

BPOV:

I sat on the piano bench next to Edward, listening to the new song he had composed. Elizabeth came stomping down the stairs, pausing to look slightly disgustedly at me and Edward. Why? I wondered. We had a good relationship with her, she _was _our daughter after all, and she was never like this.

"Okay, enough is enough. Please, sorry to be rude, but I'm tired of being lied to, so just move quickly to the couch and sit." She commanded. I looked at Edward, confused. When had we ever lied to her? I couldn't think of any time, and vampire memories never fade. I went with him to sit on the couch, wondering what she was talking about.

"I want the _truth_," she said. I felt Edward stiffen beside me. I decided once and for all to figure out what was going on. I pushed my mirror out and read his thoughts. They gave nothing away; something was definitely up.

"You're no human. Neither is ANYONE in this family! I want to know what everyone is!" I was stunned. Oh, that's what we lied to her about.

ElizabethPOV:

"Liz, I don't know what you're talking about. What have you been reading?" dad asked, with a voice filled with the perfect amount of chastising and patronization. Too perfect; I didn't trust it.

"Okay, I'll spell it out; Zach won't tell me what you are, but he said you weren't human, so I know you aren't. He wasn't lying. Secondly, there's something up. None of you eat, except Zach and me; you never age, except Zach and me; you never go out in the sun, except Zach and me; and I've NEVER gotten up in the middle of the night to find you asleep, but Zach and I sleep. WHAT ARE YOU?!?!?!" By the end of my spiel, I was out of breath.

"Elizabeth, go to your room," my dad said.

"NO! Sorry, but I intend to get an answer." I replied. No way was I backing down now.

"Liz, there's a lot I need to discuss with your father. Please go to your room and I'll talk with him now." Oh, this was good. Whenever mom referred to dad as "your father," it meant he was in trouble. It's only happened once before, when Zach was punished for something that made no sense and the time, but now I guess he had risked exposure for whatever we are. I went upstairs, but instead of going to my room, I went to Zach's. I figured mom and dad just wanted me out of the way. I opened Zach's door to find him with his arm over his face; scowling.

"What?" I asked.

"You told them I told you they aren't human!"

"So?"

"SO?! THEY'RE GONNA KILL ME!"

"It's fine. Mom seemed ticked at dad since he wouldn't listen to me, though."

"Really? Maybe I'm off the-" just then we heard mom scream.

"EDWARD! SHE HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW!" We had to strain to hear dad's voice, since he was calmer, not yelling.

"Bella, she doesn't need to know. We wouldn't have even told Zach, except he needed to know. Besides, he wouldn't get all scared like Liz would."

"WHO SAYS, EDWARD? WHY DO YOU THINK THAT? IS IT BECAUSE SHE'S A GIRL? BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE A POWER? I'VE GOT NEWS, EDWARD. SHE'S JUST AS CAPABLE AS ZACH!" quieter, she added, "Edward, you and I both know it's best if she hears it from us. If Alice or Emmett or someone tells her, she'll feel betrayed, and maybe even never view us the same again. And what if she looks on the Internet? We both know I could have done worse than I did finding out what you were."

"But, Bella. I, I, just she doesn't, I don't…"

"Edward," mom replied, soothingly. Yes! It sounded like this was ending in my favor. I heard dad chuckle. Mom must have looked at him questioningly or something, because he replied,

"Sounds like a certain eavesdropper is gloating over a supposed victory." WTF?! I didn't say anything! I heard mom sigh.

"All right, Lizzy, come on down," she said in a normal voice, now knowing I could hear her. I looked at Zach, wondering how dad knew I was listening.

"Well, go, weirdo. This is what you wanted," he reminded me, very unceremoniously pushing me out the door. I walked downstairs. Mom and dad were sitting on the couch; dad was fighting with a sort of fugitive look on his face, and mom looked like she was concentrating very hard on not letting dad bolt for the door.

"Err, Elizabeth, I, I mean we, I mean, oh, forget it, your mom can tell you," dad attempted. Wow, dad didn't know what to say, never seen THAT before.

"Lizzy, don't freak, okay? Sorry, that's how people used to talk. The family, besides you and Zach, are, well, no easy way to put this, vampires." Wow, the truth. I could see it in her eyes.

"What?" dad asked, "You think after all that defeat from me, you thought we were going to lie?" What the shit?! I didn't say anything! Again! Whatever. Well, I still didn't have the whole story.

"You were yelling at dad about me not having a power. What did you mean?" Mom looked around shiftily. Hmmmm… another thing to add to my, "parents should have told me but didn't" list.

"Well, certain vampires have powers. Or, I suppose since your brother has a power too, half-vampires."

"Like…" I prompted.

"Well, I can push what seems to be a mirror away from me, and everyone around me glows. If a vampire has a power, I can reflect their light onto any other vampire. Your Aunt Alice can see the future, though it isn't set in stone, your dad can read minds, your Uncle Jasper can control and sense emotions, and your brother can physically and mentally shield people with a bluish bubble." I noticed something she had slipped in there in the hopes I would skip over it.

_Crap. Dad? Please, please, say you can't read my mind._ I saw him grimace.

"Sorry, sweetie. I can," _NO NO NO NO NO! I can never EVER have a boy friend (I mean, one embarrassing thought, and the poor guy would be dead!), or sneak out at night, or drink underage, or try drugs, not that I ever would drink or do drugs, but whatever. I can't sneak out and avoid a cleaning day! Or pretend not to hear them when I do! NO NO NO! _

"Sorry," was all he could say. How pathetic. "You can talk to your Aunt Alice about blocking me. She's quite talented." I made a mental note to do so.

"Anyway," mom continued, looking unnerved and slightly annoyed at our half-mental conversation, "your dad can't read your brother's or my mind, and if you're in his bubble and your dad's not, he can't read your mind. Oh, by the way, all those trips we take for our, er, breaks from you kids to do 'grown-up' stuff? yeah, those are hunting trips. We just didn't want you asking to many questions, so we made it something embarasing."

"You realize I now have a bajillion questions, now, though, right?" I asked, just to make sure.

"Of course. And you can always come back and ask us more questions later. Zach's know almost all his life, and he still keeps asking questions!" mom answered, seeming sort of exasperated, but perfectly willing to spend all day answering my questions. She seemed happy I'd taken it like I did. Well, for someone only in eighth grade, sure, it was a shock, but at least I wasn't old enough to have a heart attack! Dad grinned at that thought, and I began my version of the Spanish Inquisition.


	3. I'm back

Disclaimer: WHAT?! I, I don't own Twilight?! I had no idea! (DUH, NOT!)

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ZachPOV:

I headed into school, hoping against hope that my girlfriend, Ashley, would be there. She knew about vampires even before she met me. I didn't pry, since it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it. Of course, she was there. She always was, never missed a day of school. I parked my car (a dark blue Corvette, a present from Aunt Alice) and got out. Immediately, I found Ashley in my arms, after having run towards me before the car stopped. Usually, she waited for me to come to her, to make sure she didn't get run over.

"Hey, Ash. What's with the greeting?" She looked down.

"Nothing."

"Ash, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She replied more forcefully. I had to know what was wrong, to comfort her. I picked her up and sat down in the car with her.

"Ash, it's okay. You know you can tell me anything." A paper fluttered to the floor. She didn't notice it, so I didn't say anything. It was probably just a test or homework assignment, but I wanted to make sure. Ashley snuggled into my shirt. It felt so right, her in my arms, me comforting her, her seeking comfort. The only thing off was that she wouldn't tell me what was wrong.

"I know, I know, I guess I'm just stressed over that big English test today. I think I'm going to fail." I decided to lighten the mood.

"Bet you beat me. I bet I fail and you ace it. Isn't that usually how it works?" I asked her, tickling he sides a bit, eliciting a giggle.

"Only sometimes. I didn't study at all, though. I was too busy," she paused her for a second, as if editing something out, "IM'ing and thinking about you." The bell rung. "Oops! Got to go! I have Geometry first, what do you have?"

"Um, free period."

"Okay, see you!" It killed me to let her out of the car, especially while I knew she was upset about something. Oh well. I watched to make sure she had left, before I picked up the fallen piece of paper.

**I'm back. **

I was troubled. Who was back? Why were they after Ashley? A thousand questions ran through my mind, until I came to one conclusion. I will keep Ashley safe. I must.

**TIME SKIP: AFTER SCHOOL**

"Hey, Ash, you free tonight? Short notice, but I just have to see you later." I said, kissing her cheeks and forehead.

"For anyone besides you? No. For you? The whole night."She giggled at how cliché she sounded.

"Be over at six?" I asked. I could wait that long, if I tried.

"Mmm Hmmm" She murmured, leaning up, looking for another kiss. I laughed at her and bent down, giving her what she was looking for. I got into my car and drove away from school. I would make this a date to remember, so while I'm protecting her constantly asking for dates (not that I didn't anyway, but whatever) she would still be willing to go out with me and not be suspicious. I never thought of my own safety, it just never crossed my mind.

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Sorry, I know it's short. I'm working on the next chapter right now, I juswt thought this would be a good place to break. The next chapter should be up tonight.  
P.S. I'm probably pissing my beta off. None of this story has been sent to her yet!


	4. Got to go NOW

Disclaimer: I know, I know, I write like SM, but, unfortunetly, I'm NOT! I only own Edward as my boyfriend. BACK OFF, ALL YOU FANGIRL STALKERS!

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**ZachPOV:**

I reached Ashley's door, straightening my tie (bought by Aunt Rosalie when she heard I had a girlfriend and chances were we weren't about to break up ever) and preparing to knock. Before I could, however, I very angry, unkempt- looking Mrs. Quinn opened the door.

"You," she said in a very potential-to-be-dangerous-if-I-wasn't-a-half-vampire-voice. "You took her. Where is she?!" she screeched. My heart sank. No, not Ashley. Mr. Quinn came up behind his wife.

"Melina, you know he didn't do it. Look at his face. She's probably just out with friends." He looked at me. "I apologize. Ashley hasn't come home tonight. After seeing you ready for a date, I'm more worried than I was. Are you sure your date was tonight?"

"I, I'm not sure." I thought, thinking quickly. Who knew what creatures were involved. If Mr. and Mrs. Quinn got involved, they could die, as could any police. "I'm sure she's fine and I just got mixed up," I said. "I'll just leave. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience." I'd picked up some manners from my century-old dad. As soon as he heard about Ashley, he had sat me down and told me some things. Like, the girl is ALWAYS right, being the most important one.

I got in my car and raced home. I was even _less _careful than usual to look out for the police. Seriously, driving underage and speeding were nothing compared to what Ashley might be enduring right now. At that thought, I sped up. I could drive easily; I had loved cars from the beginning, so much to Mom's chagrin, I got lessens from Aunts Rosalie and Alice.


	5. a fight, a story, and a scheme

Disclaimer: You know, I had a dream last night I was Elizabeth. Heck was I PISSED at Zach. Anyways... since I'm apparently Elizabeth and not SM, I can't claim to own Twilight. Oh, SORRY mom. I mean, I _can _claim to own Twilight, I just _won't _claim to. Since, against my mom's every wish, I _don't _want to go to jail and get out of her hair. I have too much fun tourturing her.

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ZPOV:

I got home and prepared to nonchalantly go upstairs, pack, and leave without any of the family realizing I was running away. As I opened the door, though, I realized that I wasn't about to get away for a while. Dad stood in the doorway, arms crossed, with a fierce look on his face. For a moment, I was really terrified. I stopped abruptly, looking at him. When he didn't say anything, I decided it looked like I had to start. Not the best tactic if I were to win the argument, but I was in a hurry. If I had to quickly admit defeat, I would. I don't care about my position as argument-winner now; I just had to save Ashley.

"Hi," I started pathetically.

"Hello," he replied shortly. Okaaaayyyy…

"Er, what did I do now?" I asked. I knew it was stupid, making me seem like I did whatever it was, but I didn't really care. He ignored my question, though.

"Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper stopped by for a visit," Why did _that _make him so mad? I looked around him, and sure enough, there were my aunt and uncle on the couch. Aunt Alice mouthed _sorry_ at me, while Uncle Jasper sent me a bit of an apologetic feeling. Not enough to influence me, just enough for me to since and understand he was apologizing. What happened?

"It's not what you _did_, it's what you're _going_ to do," Dad continued. OH, now I understood. Aunt Alice had a vision; one of ME, me running away.

"Dad, it's not what you think, I-" Dad cut me off.

"I know. You just _have_ to go save Ashley from the retarded kidnaper. I don't think so."

"Dad! I-"

"NO!"

"I-"

"WHAT PART OF NO, ZACH?!" At this moment I both thought of a way to maybe make dad understand, and I noticed Mom wasn't present. Either she was hunting, not likely- she always went with dad; she didn't agree with Dad, possible but still not likely; or, most likely, he couldn't bear to be in the same room with me when she knew I was planning on leaving. It hurt to know I was causing her pain.

"What if it were Mom?" I asked. That was low, but I had to try. It was the best chance I had.

"_I_ would go," Dad replied, making it clear he and I were so different, it was not an issue.

"Right," I replied, ignoring the meaning of his previous sentence, "you would go. You would do everything in your power to make her safe again. You would find a way around everyone, no matter how hard they tried to stop you. You would know you _would _make her safe, you _would _make sure you stayed safe so you could save her." I ignored the part where we both wouldn't care about our own safety once our love was safe. We both knew this, and admitting it out loud wouldn't help my case.

"No," Dad said, more quietly. He understood more now, but he still couldn't let me go. As if I needed him to let me go.

"This isn't the end," I warned him as a turned to stalk upstairs. I was leaving tonight. I knew it would be difficult in a house filled with super-sensitive vampires who never slept, but I had to get out. I had to save Ashley. I flopped onto my bed and put my hand in my pocket. I pulled out the note I had found on the floor this morning-**I'm back**. Was it only that long ago? Seemed like ages ago. There was a timid knock on my door, and Liz came in. I put my arm over my face, trying to make it obvious I wanted to be left alone. She came and sat on my bed.

"Oh, stop feeling so sorry for yourself. No one cares." She said in a surprisingly contemptuous voice. I looked up just in time to notice her pick up the note I had wanted no one to see and pale as she read it.

"Look, Zach. Auntie Alice told me to tell you she didn't mean to let dad know. She just had an overwhelming vision while she was in the middle of a conversation with him and Uncle Jasper, and Dad saw it in her mind. So we're going to get through today, then tonight she's going to find a way to smuggle us out." I didn't miss the plural.

"Us?"

"You don't think I'm going to let my brother risk his life to rescue my probably-sometime-in-the-future-sister-in-law all by himself, do you?"

"I don't think, I know."

"Shut _up_, Zach! Don't be as stupid as Dad! You're acting just like him!"

"Shhh! He can hear your mind, it'll ruin everything!"

"I DON'T EFFING CARE!" I had to be the responsible one, then, and shelter us from Dad's power. I let my bubble go and with the amazing precision of someone who has been practicing for years (14 years, to be exact) my bubble surrounded only us. Liz was too lost in her anger to notice.

"You're not coming." I said, calmly. How was I supposed to calm my 13-year-old crazy, slightly teenage sister?

_YES I AM! _

"Please don't scream, Lizzy." She looked confused.

"I didn't."

"I distinctly have a throbbing head ache I don't think is a hallucination." I retorted.

"I think it's all in your head."

"All in my…?! Wait, think something directed at me." I said. Could my baby sister finally have a power?

_What the h*** is this all about, idiot?_

"No need to curse, Liz. Not _my_ fault you can, how should I put this, mindspeak!"

"OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! I HAVE A POWER!"

"Hey! If you people over there in India didn't quite catch that, she has a power!" I joked.

"Oh, cut the sarcasm, Zach. Do you realize what I can do now? I can't get a reply, but I can talk to people. I can reassure them. Even tell them that, well, we're coming." Oh my gosh. ASHLEY!

"But you've yet to do it over distance, not to a family member. Can you tell if you are just talking in your head, or if someone can hear you?"

"I get sort of, I don't know, a conformation feeling when I reached you. I know when someone can hear me."

"Let me tell you know what to tell Ash. Tell her I love her, we're coming. Tell her to stay safe, do what they say, and hold on. Tell her I know she has the strength in her to continue." I saw Liz close her eyes and connect with Ashley. Why couldn't _I_ have the power of mindspeak? Well, at least now I'll be able to protect Ash _after _we find her. Though, that didn't work so well last time. I'm a failure. Uncle Jasper came up and in after about one minute of my feeling desperate, like a complete failure, and feeling like maybe, possibly, after I saved Ash, it would be better if I died and let someone else, someone completely human.

"Zach, you know Ash loves you, not some other person," he said, a deep sadness I didn't understand in his eyes, and so deep, so buried I almost missed it, was shame. I didn't know where these came from. Uncle Jasper must have felt my confusion, because he sat down on the bed next to me, in the spot recently vacated by Liz, and turned to me.

"Has your mom or dad ever told you about the time your dad left your mom?" This was surprising to me. They seemed inseparable to me. Did they fight? Did they throw things at each other? And, most importantly, would they do it again? I shook my head no.

"Well, by now your mom knew what we were, are. Alice decided that she simply _had_ to throw her a birthday party, even though your mom insisted she didn't want anyone to recognize her birthday. 'I do not want to be one year older than Edward,' she said. Well, of course Alice threw a party with roses, crystal, lace, the works.

"Well, Alice handed your mom the first present, from Emmett, Rosalie, and me. Emmett installed it before she opened it, so she couldn't return it. It was already so hard for me to be in the room, with your mom, a human. My self-control was even worse then than it is now. Edward had threatened me with what he would do if I hurt Bella, but did I listen to his advice and leave and skip the party? No, of course not, I wouldn't want to make Bella uncomfortable, would I? Boy, did that plan backfire," Uncle Jasper was seeing that day. I could tell, because he dispensed with the 'your mom' and 'you dad's and just said Bella and Edward. It made the story easier to listen to.

"Bella stuck her finger under the wrapping paper of Alice and Edward's gift. She gave herself a paper cut. One, simple, stupid paper cut, and I went nuts. I wasn't myself; I was the monster, the hunter. Edward threw Bella backwards into the crystal, causing her arm the gush blood. Emmett and Rosalie managed, somehow, to get me out. I fought them all the while; I felt I just _had _to drink Bella dry.

"She was fine, Carlisle stitched her up, but I left immediately for Alaska; I couldn't bear to face her again, I was so ashamed. Alice soon followed close behind. Later, I learned Edward had told the family they were leaving Forks. He called Alice and me up and told us not to interfere in Bella's life anymore. He told Alice not to look in her future. He said it was too dangerous for her to be involved with vampires.

"I told him not to do this; I would stay away so she could be safe. He said it wasn't just me. It was him, and everyone else. We were _all_ and danger to Bella in his eyes. Well, basically after about six months Alice came back to help Charlie after she had a vision of Bella committing suicide, jumping off a cliff," he snorted as Liz's and my eyes grew wide. She had finished speaking to Ashley, and was listening in.

"Turns out, Bella was just trying something _else_ dangerous, because when she did dangerous things she heard Edward's voice. She hadn't forgotten us after all, just gone into a severe depression. She didn't _really_ commit suicide because Charlie and Renee needed her. Go figure.

"Well, Edward was told by Rosalie Bella died, so he went to Italy to get himself killed by the Volturi. The idiot. Well, long story short, Alice saved them all by getting Bella to Italy, Bella saved Edward from stepping into the sun, and he saved her from being drunk dry by the Volturi," Liz was able to understand this, I just told her about the Volturi the other day when she suggested we just forget the rules and tell the world about vampires. She insisted it was only fair the humans know what they were living with. I had also told her about the werewolves and Mom's friend, Jacob. He still, apparently, hadn't come back from running away. He put his forehead on his palm.

"All because I couldn't control myself. They _all_ risked their lives." I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping to get him back to his original point. I loved him, but I really had to prepare to leave.

"All right, all right," Uncle Jasper said, feeling my impatience. "My point is this: even if you think Ashley would be better off without you, know that the idea is not only stupid, and idiotic; it would also have disastrous consequences. That's also why you need someone, a family member like a sister, to keep you in your place."

"I understand," I replied to his concern. And I did. I really, truly did, but sometimes it was so hard to remember.

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NEXT: a suprise visit from Elizabeth's strange, probable-muti-personality-disorder-suffering math teacher: MRS. FITZ! (I know, all the kids I know are probably laughing their heads off. But I'm serious! Even if only for a small dialog, she WILL show up.)


	6. Escapes and teachers and clues, Oh my!

**A/N **I'm SOOOOOO sorry for the delay! Let's just say school+old enough to babysit+new baby+ five year old adoring sister does NOT equal tons of free time! Again, apologizes! I feel so bad.

**DISCLAIMER:** So, after writing, I don't own Twilight a thousand times, I realized, I DO! Just a copy, of course, but I do own it in a way! How cool is that? Anyways, I thought I'd clarify for tose among us who (like me) are so stupid they actually think about this in their free time, I DON'T OWN ANY RIGHTS TO TWILIGHT, NOR DID I WRITE IT! Wow, I need to get a life, don't I...?

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**ElizabethPOV:**

Aunt Alice snuck us out of the house, always taking careful stock of the whereabouts of the others in the house. We got outside where we were nearly blown off our feet by the forceful wind.

"Begin East," was all she said to us, able to whisper despite the howling wind. I hugged her close, determined to let her know how much I appreciated everything she had done for us and that I forgave her for letting dad see the vision. She gave me a quick, but still filled with love, hug back before she moved to Zach. I knew he was the one who really needed encouragement. She stood there as awkwardly as a vampire can stand, not knowing if she were forgiven by him. He had to lean down, even though she was YEARS older than he, to give her a hug. He wasn't looking like he was letting go within the hour, so I sent him a thought.

_We'll find her, but we've got to get a move on._ I saw Zach give a small nod, and break the hug. Aunt Alice gave us a nod, and turned back to the house. Zach looked at me.

"This is your last chance," he said. I knew perfectly well what he meant.

"Wow! Okay, so you're never going to tell me to get lost again?! Great, let's go!" I said, trying to lighten the mood. Zach gave a strained little grin.

"Don't count on it." He said. "Begin East," he muttered to himself. We started off, hand-in-hand, into the night.

**TIME SKIP: 5 HOURS**

**ZachPOV:**

We were pretty far from home by now, and we still hadn't slept. I didn't want to get our sleep cycles reversed, if Ashley _had _been kidnapped by a vampire, then he couldn't come out in the daytime-so that would be the best time to catch him/her. I felt my pocket again for the note; I felt it burning in my pocket. **I'm back.**

"We need to find somewhere to rest," I said. As I said it, I saw a flash of something resembling gratefulness in Lizzy's eyes. Was I that bad of a big brother I hadn't noticed my sister was exhausted? I slowed my pace, as did Lizzy. She seemed to be able to keep up with me better, now. Just as I was about to suggest we sleep on the ground, we stepped into a small, seemingly unseen-by-the-modern-eye village. Not the sort of place anyone would notice a girl and a strange looking creature, male or female.

I took a deep breath, preparing to speak with someone who would obviously think I was very rude, and ask if Liz and I could stay the night. The smell hit me like a wrecking ball. It wasn't appealing; it was just a smell, but the meaning of it was so horrible, so terrible. Liz noticed something was wrong.

"Zach? What is it?" she asked tentatively, unsure if she really wanted the answer.

"Blood," I replied. Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud?! Reeeaaaaallll full of tact, aren't I? Hope I didn't freak Liz out. I looked next to me, only to see Lizzy staring at me, waiting for something.

"What?" I asked, at the same time she asked, "Where?" We forced a couple smiles.

"Over here," I said, pulling her with me. Ashley's blood-scent pulled me along. We finally reached a tree. There was nothing visible, just the scent of her blood on the tree. Lizzy got a weird look on her face, and she circled the tree. I heard him gasp.

"Zach, come here," she croaked. I ran around the tree as fast as I could; quite a feat considering I had not much momentum to work with. I look where she was pointing; the trunk. I gagged. Right there, was a blood splatter, Ashley's blood.

"Zach, look at this." Liz said, a bit of- was I mistaken? I had to be- hope in her voice. I tore my eyes away from the gruesome sight of the blood, and looked where she was pointing. A star had been carved into the trunk, the left point carved out, so it almost looked colored in.

"Ash is giving us a clue, Zach," whispered Liz, "Now all we have to do is decipher it."

"Can you talk to her again? Tell her to relax, we found the star. I know she be stressed out about whether or not we find it." Liz grinned.

"Sure," she said, and closed her eyes. Two seconds later, she opened them. "All done!"

"Great, let's go. We need to find somewhere to sleep." I said. Also, somewhere to work on the clue…

"Hold on," Liz said. She pulled out her sketch book. Her sketch book was important to her, no one but her was permitted to look in it, and she never wrote in it. She only drew things she considered beautiful, and never anything else. She opened it and drew the star, filling in the part that was carved out on the tree.

"I thought this would help me unwind and think. I'm so glad I brought it." She murmured, words not meant for my ears, yet I heard them all the same. I was filled with the longing to cry. I never would, I would stay strong for Ashley and Elizabeth, but I knew how big a sacrifice it was for Elizabeth to draw even that one star in her book. It seemed like such a little thing, but in reality, it wasn't.

We began walking into the forest, deep in thought. I hadn't even thought about finding shelter after Liz opened her book. Luckily, we stumbled upon an abandoned cottage. I knew we would have to spend the night here. Liz seemed to know this to, for she walked right in without any hesitation at all.

**TIME SKIP: ALL READY FOR BED**

We were lying on the floor, as comfortable as we could be on the few clothes we had packed. I tried to give at least a few of mine to Lizzy, but she wouldn't let me. She tossed and turned, as unable as I was to fall asleep.

"Zach?" called Elizabeth. I had heard _this _before, and knew where this was going.

"_I can't sleep,"_ I mimicked. Elizabeth snorted.

"Correct, oh high and sleepy one." Okay, so I couldn't sleep either, but I wasn't groaning about it.

"Play a prank on mom and dad. Use your power. That seems to calm you down, and I bet I could relax, too." I saw Lizzy think for a minute, and a wide, wicked grin crossed her face.

"Mrs. Fitz…" I heard her murmur. This couldn't be good.

**BellaPOV:**

I was terrified. Terrified for Zach, Liz, Ashley, you name it, I was worried. As I thought about this, the phone rang. I let it ring thinking someone else would answer it. I mean, it's not like they couldn't hear it. No one answered, though, so I went down and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I asked in an attempt to be polite.

"I would like to inform you your daughter, Elizabeth Cullen, was not in attendance today in her Algebra class."

"I apologize. She and Zach are on an extended vacation for their health." Wow, could I sound any_ more _like a liar? I don't think so.

"Yes, well, THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE! DETENTION FOR THEM BOTH!" Okay… Mrs. Fitz was crazy, but not _this_ crazy…

"I'm sorry," I repeated, and hung up. Wow. Just wow.

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I hope to update sooner next time! By the way, check out my poll on my profile. For those of you who don't know, my new-found excitement is writing fluffy, romantic one-shots with the ocasional humour one-shot. The poll is for a romantic one-shot, what pairing you want! Canon couples only.


	7. Thanks, Fate!

**Disclaimer: **Guess what?! Com'mon, guess! No, really, seriously, guess. STOP HEAVING THOS EFFING ANNOYING SIGHS AT MY MENTAL CONDITION AND GUESS! STOP! GET AWAY FROM THE PHONE, I WON'T LET YOU CALL THE FUNNY FARM AGAIN! REALLY, I'm fine. I hate it there, and they get tired of seeing my there. Though there was that one hot phocofanatic there a couple weeks ago... Oops, I forgot, disclaimer, right. Well, you don't have to guess anymore 'cause I want to get on to the story. ANMLLVR DOES NOT OWN TWILIGHT (well, technically, she owns a copy of the seires which she obsesses over, but STILL!).

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Elizabeth POV:**

_I was wandering under the stars; lost. There was no moon, but the stars provided some light. I was frantic. There was something I had to do; somewhere I had to go, though I didn't know why. I ran around in a frenzy and making no progress. Where was I supposed to go? There was no one to ask. Just the trees and me and the stars… just me and the stars… just the stars…_

Gasping, I woke up. Stars, I remembered. I lay back, trying to think through my dream so I could get back to sleep. Lost, I didn't know where to go, but there were stars. Why no moon? Why just stars? And what was it about those stars that bothered me? I thought in detail about those stars, wondering about them, what about them was bugging me? With a start, I realized what it must have been. I yanked out my sketch book and stared at the star I had scribbled in earlier. Most definitely the same. Both the stars in my dream and the star on my paper had one colored in point; the left point. _We're not lost anymore,_ I realized, _we know where we're going. No more frenzied, nonsensical searching._

I was about to wake Zach, tell him about the star, but when I looked at him he was fast asleep. I just couldn't bring myself to disturb him; because no matter how annoying and over-protective he was, he was my brother and I loved him. So, I went back to sleep- pleased with myself.

**Zach POV:**

I woke up to a terrifying sight. Elizabeth was standing over me, smirking so huge I was surprised the smile left any room on her face for her eyes. This was scary for many reasons; allow me to list them:

Elizabeth- queen of late sleeping- was awake before me

She was close enough to kick me- and I was still in the helpless half-awake half-asleep stage

She was happily smirking at this ungodly hour

If her eyes fell off her face due to the smile, I would be dragging along a BLIND ignorant, evil, demonic 13-year-old female teen; versus just an ignorant, evil, demonic 13-year-old female teen.

I quickly scrambled to my feet. I turned to look at Lizzy, who, for some bizarre reason, raised her eyebrows and somehow added to the crazed smirk.

"Nice boxers," she grinned. I grimaced. We hadn't brought PJ's, and this was all I had.

"Oh, shut up," came my brilliant, mumbled response.

"Well, be that way. I WON'T tell you what I found out about Ash's star last night," she pretended to be offended and walk away. She was pretending, right? Sometimes, it was difficult to tell. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Please tell me, I apologize," I said, hoping it was with the same effect Dad usually said it. However it worked though, she told me.

"The point of the star- it's pointing left," she began, "well, what if it's like an arrow or something? Like we're supposed to follow it and go left?" Well, it was possible, I supposed, but I wasn't convinced.

"Then why a star?" I asked, "Why not just an arrow? Anyone would know what was up with the star if they knew where they were going. They'd figure it out right away, so it makes less sense to draw a star- which would be hard for us to figure out- than draw an arrow- something we could follow easily." Liz looked crestfallen. I felt terrible, she had been so sure of herself.

"Oh, I didn't look at it that way," she murmured. I pulled her into a hug.

"You may be right, it may be directions. It also might be something more- a hint behind the obvious if you know what I mean." She pulled away.

"Ick," she said, returning to her old self, "next time you want to turn all big-brother on me, put on a shirt and a pair of pants first. Yuck!" she fake-shuddered and walked away. "Put on some clothes!" she called back, "we're going out and I'm buying one new pair of clothes. I can't live in only one pair!"

"Then why'd you come with me?!" I called back, joking.

"Because your girlfriend takes me shopping!" She feigned. We walked out of the place we were staying and headed back to the village. Liz went into a store full of women's clothing- shooing me out the instant she heard there was only a curtained off section for a dressing room. I wandered into a bookstore/library with the intent of looking up books on cracking codes and symbols. I didn't get far, though. I finally found one book after about 20 minutes when I heard Liz in my head.

_OUCH! DANG IT! SHIT! I CAN'T MOVE IT! ZACH, GET IN THE WOODS AND FIND ME BEFORE I DIE IN AGONY!_

I could feel her pain; she wasn't going to die, though it was pretty bad. I dropped the book on the counter and quickly explained any rudeness conceived by my sudden rush to get out by claiming (in French of course) that I didn't speak English.

"Merci, mais, je ne comprand pas Anglais. Desolée," and I raced out. I scored the woods. I probably wouldn't have found her for another half-hour if I hadn't heard Liz talk.

"Thanks," she whispered painfully, "This is really helpful." I rushed toward the sound not wanting to leave my sister alone with some maniac. I burst into a small clearing to find, to my petrified shock, that Liz, with an obviously broken ankle, was leaning heavily on a black bear, easily twice my height. Worse, the bear didn't mind, it just stood there in a motherly way; nuzzling Liz. How the heck does a freakin' BEAR look motherly? Lizzy met my stunned eyes and laughed. Between giggles, she explained.

"I can talk to her in her mind and she communicates back with me. She considers me her cub now that hers are gone." She said. Oh, great. Now I have an over-protective mother bear to worry about. Not to even MENTION Liz's broken ankle! Thanks Fate! Add some terminal diseases while you're at it, why don't you?! No? How about some trained assassins?! Oh, ending my life would be too easy?! A mercy, so you won't do it?! Oh, I totally understand! Thanks! Not.

"Liz," I began, walking towards her. Well, I didn't really finish because mama bear growled ferociously. Backing away slowly…

"Shhh…" Lizzy said, calming the big lump down. "Zach won't hurt me. He's my brother. My… mother's cub also," she tried to explain. I walked forward again. Mrs. Bear didn't like it, but she didn't stop me, either. I reached Liz.

"What happened?" I asked, worried. Liz looked down sheepishly.

"I sort of wanted to see the star on the tree again, but I didn't think you'd want to see it again- you know, 'cause of the blood. But, I couldn't find it since I don't have your 'blood tracking' senses. So, I might have kinda fell and twisted and broken my ankle on a tree root while I was trying to find it DON'TKILLME!" she rushed the last part out. I chuckled.

"Oh, Liz. What am I going to do with you?"

"Fix my ankle and not be mad at me?" she asked hopefully.

"Very well then." I said. I bent down to touch her already swollen ankle. She winced. Mother bear growled warningly at me as Liz tried to comfort her and tell her I was trying to help.

"So, what's the diagnosis, Doc.?" Liz asked.

"It's broken," I replied. She rolled her eyes.

"Really? I hadn't noticed? Are you sure?" she asked, sarcastically. I thought for a moment before I said anything, making sure I could present my idea the best way.

"Liz, I have an idea. You need to ride on, err, the bear, until we reach the next town or whatever with a decent hospital. You'll stay out of town, and I'll go in at night and steal some crutches, whatever that stuff in that makes casts, and anything else you need. Then, we'll try to set your ankle correctly. I can only guess how to do it, but I think I can do it," I hoped she would agree.

"No," she narrowed her eyes. Dang.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'll just go in and have a doctor do it. It'll be safer for both of us."

"That'll not only take too much time, the doctors will want to know where mom and dad are and how you broke the ankle. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Fine," she reluctantly agreed. She didn't like it but she saw the reasoning behind what I said. We started out, me walking and her riding on the bear. The bear, for whatever reason, began to get obviously restless. Where were all these emotions come from?! Bears don't have emotions! Liz laughed and looked at me.

"Nita says if you get up on her back, we'll make way faster time." (**A/N Nita means 'bear' in Choctaw)**. Oh, so the bear was impatient now, was it? Grrr… whatever. I could take my anger out on it later. Right now, I just needed to get Liz to a hospital. Or, at least, to the outskirts of a town with a hospital while I raided the hospital. Ah, what the heck. I climbed up on the bear's back and we set out in the direction Ashley had indicated with the pointing star.

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**A/N: **Sorry it took me so long. My betas wouldn't send me back the DocX, though I know she read it. She hasn't been in school, either, come to think of it. Sigh. I can only hope she has some terminal disease. Well, then I suppose I wouldn't have a lab partner for science... hmmm... that could be an issue....


	8. Sweet and Sour: A Conversation

Disclaimer: "Yeah, uh huh, me, I own it, yeah Twilight." HEY STOP EVESDROPPING ON MY PHONE CONVERSATION! K, the only time you'll ever hear me say I own Twilight is when you're listening only to my side of a phone conversation. otherwise, I DON'T OWN TWILIGHT!

**A/N **This chapter was difficult because it is the first inter-readable chapter I've ever done. I hope it's good. Anyways, it took me a while, thoguh I know it doesn't seem like it because I updated so quick. Truthfully, I've been so stinkin' bored I figured I might as well beat my friend McKenna (MacKenna... ha ha...) and update BEFORE she could start pestering me about it. LUV YA, HON!

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**This chapter is a conversation written from both perspectives. It is an inter-readable conversation. It can be read from only one POV, both POV's, or one POV—but and points one might refer to the other POV to see what the other was thinking.**

**Elizabeth POV:**

Zach was riding behind me on Nita. He had wanted to ride in front, but she didn't trust him enough to let him sit behind her head yet, so I had to sit there. We were going to be on the move for a while; the pain in my ankle was manageable thanks to its positioning and so I allowed the questions that had been building inside me ever since I found out about vampires to come spilling out.

"Zach?" I asked, initiating conversation.

"Yes Liz?" At that moment, I was a bit overwhelmed by my connection with my brother. Gah! What am I saying?! But something influenced my first question.

"How were you able to keep the vampire-secret a, well, secret for so long?" I questioned.

"Well, it was really difficult. Like when Hannah would tease you. You remember that one other time Mom got really upset with Dad?"

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Well, that was the day; I don't know if you remember, Hannah was teasing you really bad. My control slipped for a second. Not long enough for anyone to see. I still couldn't get the bubble back, but I pushed it out where you couldn't see it anymore. It caused a huge traffic accident. I almost killed 3 people. I almost killed them…" his voice faded out, as if he were off in the distance and no longer with me. Poor Zach.

"You didn't mean to. You were trying to protect me. Personally, though, I wouldn't have minded you knocking a little sense up Hannah's butt," I attempted a weak try at humor. I don't think it worked, but I could almost hear him attempting a smile.

"Yeah. Sometimes, I wish I had. What's the use of a power if you can't use it?" He half-joked. I laughed.

"Bet you had Mom and Dad on their toes before I came along and you had to hold out."

"Yeah. It helped I couldn't kill anyone. Having a family of immortals _does _have its advantages." When he put it like that, I came up with another question; a slightly more morbid question. I would work up to it, though.

"Zach, what's it like to be changed into a vampire? How does it happen?" He seemed reluctant to answer, but he did anyway.

"Vampires are venomous; their venom is used to incapacitate their prey. If the prey escapes, or however else the venom is allowed to spread, though, it changes them into a vampire," he was omitting something, I could tell.

"Is that how Mom was changed? Some vampire's prey escaped?" I questioned, trying to hit whatever he was keeping from me. Whatever he was hiding, though, it wasn't this. He began to laugh, a deep, true laugh. The laugh I hadn't heard in a while.

"Not quite," he managed to say, "you were born prematurely and Aunt Alice couldn't see what was going to happen. You bit Mom on your way out. I can't change humans to vampires, but you can. That's why Mom and Dad had such strict rules about biting." He began to chuckle again, slightly more controlled.

"What about the change itself, though?" I asked, trying once more to find what he had been avoiding telling me.

"I don't really know. I've never experienced it. I know it takes about 3 days," he said, carefully. I could tell I had found it.

"What else?" I asked, determined. He sighed defeatedly. He could tell he wasn't going to win this one.

"It hurts. A lot. It's like someone is burning you alive, without the release of death. The whole time, you're begging for death. That's the first memory I have. Mom screaming at Dad to kill her. It was terrifying." He had the same haunted sound to his voice he had when he was talking about the traffic accident he had accidentally caused.

"Oh," came my brilliant reply. There was a brief pause. "Zach?"

"Yes?"

"Are Mom and Dad ever going to, you know, change us?" Zach stiffened again, but in a familiar way. He had thought about this before, I could tell.

"I highly doubt that," he replied.

"Why?" I insisted. "I mean, that means we're going to get old enough to be their parents. Gross! Then what? We die and they keep on just living life as if we never existed? Really?" I was on a steaming rampage and he knew it.

"I'm just telling you what I think. Dad wouldn't even change MOM for years. Now that Mom's been through the pain of the change, do you really think she'd allow that for us? No. Besides, who knows how you or I would react to venom? You're already able to produce it, so you must have it in your system. You're a bit more vampire than human, I think, like Dad was. I can't change people, and in other ways I'm more human, like Mom was. Plus, your power is pretty close to what Dad can do. Anyways, I really doubt Mom or Dad, or anyone in the family for that matter, would be likely to change us," he finished. Shoot, looked like I was going to look like my parents' parent. Yuck.

**Zach POV:**

I was sitting behind Lizzy on Nita, as the bear was now called. Since when do bears have names?! Because Mama bear didn't trust me to sit behind her head. Ah, shut up. I felt like telling the thing. I wonder how hard it would be to kill. Liz seems okay now; I hope we get to the hospital soon, though. I want to get her checked out.

"Zach?" she asked. Was she okay? Was she in pain? God, were was that dang hospital?!

"Yes Liz?" I replied. Please, please, please be okay. What am I supposed to do if you aren't? Send Winnie the Pooh to go get some honey?!

"How were you able to keep the vampire-secret a, well, secret for so long?" She questioned. _Oh_, I realized, _she's trying to start a conversation. I'm so stupid. She must have a million questions._

"Well, it was really difficult. Like when Hannah would tease you. You remember that one other time Mom got really upset with Dad?" I wanted her to know how much I truly hated that girl. Seriously, she has some issues that need dealing with. Plus, I just had to tell her this; get it off my shoulders, I suppose.

"Yeah?" she prompted.

"Well, that was the day; I don't know if you remember, Hannah was teasing you really bad. My control slipped for a second. Not long enough for anyone to see. I still couldn't get the bubble back, but I pushed it out where you couldn't see it anymore. It caused a huge traffic accident. I almost killed 3 people. I almost killed them…" I was reliving it. I was coming home, Mom and Dad in intense conversation. The news was on and there was a traffic accident on. The reporter came on mentioning how many of the victims were raving about bluish-spheres. Three were in critical condition, not expected to recover, though now I know they did. It hurt, I was scared…

"You didn't mean to. You were trying to protect me. Personally, though, I wouldn't have minded you knocking a little sense up Hannah's butt," Liz tried to make me feel better. I tried a smile for her, realized too late she couldn't see me.

"Yeah. Sometimes, I wish I had. What's the use of a power if you can't use it?" I fake-joked. Lizzy laughed.

"Bet you had Mom and Dad on their toes before I came along and you had to hold out." Oh man, she didn't know the half of it…

"Yeah. It helped I couldn't kill anyone. Having a family of immortals _does _have its advantages."

"Zach, what's it like to be changed into a vampire? How does it happen?" Oh dear. I was hoping this wouldn't come up without Mom or Dad here.

"Vampires are venomous; their venom is used to incapacitate their prey. If the prey escapes, or however else the venom is allowed to spread, though, it changes them into a vampire," I skipped the pain part. She really didn't need to know that, did she?

"Is that how Mom was changed? Some vampire's prey escaped?" Oh geez. The girl changed a human to a vamp and she didn't even remember. She probably knew more about the change from a vampire prospective than I did, come to think of it. I started laughing, really laughing. Laughing like I hadn't laughed since I knew Ash was in danger.

"Not quite," I squeezed between laughter fits, "you were born prematurely, and Aunt Alice couldn't see what was going to happen. You bit Mom on your way out. I can't change humans to vampires, but you can. That's why Mom and Dad had such strict rules about biting." I began laughing again. Not as exuberantly as before, but laughing all the same.

"What about the change itself, though?" she asked. Why couldn't we stay away from that subject?!

"I don't really know. I've never experienced it. I know it takes about 3 days," I attempted to skirt around the cruel facts.

"What else?" she questioned, determined. I sighed. She obviously _wanted_ to be terrified, and I couldn't keep this from her any longer. Hopefully, I could dilute it; make it seem not as bad.

"It hurts. A lot. It's like someone is burning you alive, without the release of death. The whole time, you're begging for death. That's the first memory I have. Mom screaming at Dad to kill her. It was terrifying." I was back in the moment. Aunt Alice was coddling me and Aunt Rose was trying to play some really very loud Mozart. I could still hear Mom, though. Who was hurting her? Why couldn't I go protect her?

"Oh," she replied, soaking it in. There was a brief pause. "Zach?"

"Yes?"

"Are Mom and Dad ever going to, you know, change us?" I wouldn't, couldn't, talk about this. I knew the truth, and I knew the consequences of the truth. I had thought it through enough.

"I highly doubt that."

"Why?" she continued, ferociously. "I mean, that means we're going to get old enough to be their parents. Gross! Then what? We die and they keep on just living life as if we never existed? Really?" Liz was on a rampage. This is what came from associating with temperamental female bears!

"I'm just telling you what I think. Dad wouldn't even change MOM for years. Now that Mom's been through the pain of the change, do you really think she'd allow that for us? No. Besides, who knows how you or I would react to venom? You're already able to produce it, so you must have it in your system. You're a bit more vampire than human, I think, like Dad was. I can't change people, and in other ways I'm more human, like Mom was. Plus, your power is pretty close to what Dad can do. Anyways, I really doubt Mom or Dad, or anyone in the family for that matter, would be likely to change us," I was going to have to tell her the hard, cold, cruel facts. I hoped she could handle them. Her body posture told me she wasn't going to argue with me about this anymore, but she _was _going to, as she would put it, have a _word _with Mom and Dad.

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**A/N **Okay, keep a look out for a one-shot on... EDWARD GETTING PUNCHY! Edward finds one human food/drink he can down. The item of coice? Coffee, of course! Edward gets hyper. Dedicated to Julia, the girl whose creativity keeps the world spinning. (Uh... the cops are still in the mall... Sorry everyone, inside joke!)

Also: next chapter (also helped by Julia) Crabby week is over, but what is Elizabeth to do with the cravings and exhaustion that mark the week after? CHOCOLATE!


	9. Another clue

**Elizabeth POV:**

My ankle was feeling surprisingly better after what must have been about a three hour ride on Nita. By the time we reached the next town, the swelling had completely subsided. I was no doctor, but I could tell this wasn't normal at all.

"Zach?" I questioned as he nimbly jumped of Nita's back.

"Yeah, Liz?"

"Uh, my ankle was defiantly broken before, right?"

"Before?"

"'Cause it isn't now." I jumped off and landed as comfortable as you please next to Zach. He just stared, wide-eyed.

"I guess you're just learning what vampire traits you have now." He said, recovering. "I mean, I have a power and I can smell blood, but you have a power, can turn vampires, and can heal quickly. I suppose it makes sense." You could tell, though, that he didn't like that I had more 'vampire traits,' than he did.

"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see," I replied nonchalantly.

I stretched and, at that moment, felt a gush between my legs. _Crap!_ I thought, careful not to get so upset Zach would hear. Nita, of course, could smell the blood. She nudged me, worried I had hurt myself. I just patted her and spoke to her in her mind.

_It's nothing. Just that female time._ She nudged me again, but this time sympathetically; she understood what was going on. I tried to be relaxed.

"Zach, I need a drugstore."

"What? Why?" he was confused. Good, let him stay that way.

"None of your business. I need a drugstore."

"O….K…." he looked weirded out. Sigh. Men were clueless. We walked into town, Nita stayed in the woods- a giant bear in CVS would probably cause a ruckus Zach reminded me, seemingly gleeful. We got to the door. All of a sudden, it hit me. I had this terrible craving for chocolate.

"Zach, go get some chocolate."

"Why? That's a waste of the little money we have."

"Then we'll shoplift it. You go get the chocolate."

"Liz. Really. Chocolate?!"

"Yes. Chocolate. You. Go. Get. Chocolate. What's so hard about this? Do you need it in French? Tu alle recevoir des chocolates pour moi! (**A/N a direct translation of the French is 'You go to receive the chocolate for me')** or how about Romanian?..."

"But WHY?!" Fine. I'd spell it out.

"Why do you think, Zach? I'm tired, I need to go to a drugstore for reasons I won't tell you, I know you can smell the blood, and I have a craving for chocolate. What do YOU think is going on?"

"Oh." He mumbled, walking off to fetch the chocolate. Good for him. I bought my supplies and Zach shoplifted the chocolate out. We figured it wasn't stealing if we had Mom and Dad buy the manager a Ferrari after we got back. It really was a LOT of chocolate.

"So," Zach began after I had taken care of business and we were sitting across from each other; me munching on the chocolate and he staring wistfully at it. We were leaving the comforts of home behind to save _his _girlfriend! Wouldn't you think he could put up with not getting any chocolate?! Ah, what the heck.

"Take some." I said. Maybe then he'd relax. Sure enough, the sugar worked its magic on his mind.

"So, I was thinking about the star. Ash is bound to drop another clue somewhere, but how will we find it. Even she, who's probably pretty desperate about now, knows she can't mark every clue with blood, it'll weaken her." He sounded like he was begging me to agree, but I couldn't lie to myself or him. Ash would do anything, obviously. But something about this still bothered me, still eluded me on the edges of my mind.

"Zach, I don't know. But we have to be careful. This could be a trap. I mean, something just doesn't give this Ash's personality, having us run after her this way."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, slightly irritated.

"I'm not sure; it's just that something's bothering me. Don't tell me you don't know it too."

"Whatever. I just hope we find another clue soon. I don't know how much longer we can go before we lose our way."

"Yeah," I replied, suddenly unsure. How far off course had we already come? I continued to worry as we climbed onto Nita.

---3 hours later---

**Zach POV:**

Was that…? No, it couldn't be. She wouldn't. Ash didn't. And yet, I smelled Ash's blood as clearly as though it were something very distinctive; such as popcorn, or fetal pigs from dissections (**A/N I did these last year and my friends one grade lower did them this year. I love my friends, but I couldn't help laughing at them. At least they're lucky **_**theirs **_**were finished before the weekend; my grade had to continue after they sat in their juices for two days. But I'm not bitter.). **I was ready to warn Liz to stop her bear so we could go look, hopefully at a clue and not Ash's corpse, but Liz began to twitch, distracting me. Her hand went to her face, covering her nose and mouth, and moaned. The animal we were riding came to an abrupt stop, flinging me off, and Liz went bolting off into the forest. When she came back, she looked sheepishly at me.

"Sorry. Sometimes around this time of the month, so to speak, I get sick at the smell of food. But I'm okay now. Let's keep going." I began to question what she was talking about. Well, really, I questioned everything she talked about; there was no beginning about it. There was no food.

"Liz, what do you mean? There's no food. Even I can tell that, and I'm concentrating majorly on Ash's blood scent…" I trailed off when a frantic look came into her eyes.

"Oh, please, no. Please, I can't deal with that."

"What?" I was more than scared now. What was wrong with her?

"Is it coming from over there?" she asked in a small voice, pointing in the direction of Ash's blood. I suddenly understood what she was saying. The blood smelled like food to her; my baby sister was experiencing bloodlust. I nodded in response to her question. From the look in her eyes, she had guessed the answer from the time I had mention there was no food.

Why was she getting all these powers and abilities now? Why not me? Why all at once? I tried not to let it get to me that she now had one more power than I, and she had all I had except the deviation in our main powers. We silently walked toward the smell; Liz tasting the smell of food, me disgusted and terrified by what we might find. It was nothing horrible; just another picture.

There were three people, stick figures. They all had their arms pointing in the same direction. I stood there, trying to decipher why Ash had drawn this. Besides from the obvious giving us directions, there was another clue cleverly hidden under this one. A clue in a clue. I thought about this as Liz sketched this one in her book, and then closed her eyes and informed Ashley that, once more, we had found her clue.


	10. Brainstorming

**Elizabeth POV:**

Zach and I lay on the ground next to each other, looking at my sketchbook. Nita had gone off to find food; she'd been carrying us a ways and was definitely hungry. Zach and I were trying to find any similarity between the two clues Ashley had given us; but so far we were unsuccessful. There wasn't even any link we could draw between how we found them except that there was blood. Even the amounts of blood were different. Before there had been so much blood it was scary, but this time there was barely any, almost like a paper cut.

"Well, they both show us which way to go," Zach pointed at the shapes, "see? And they both seem like they were drawn in a hurry. So, let's look at each and see if they hadn't been drawn quickly, what they might have looked like." I didn't quite understand what he was saying, so he showed me.

"Look at the one we found today. Maybe since Ash only had a little time, she could only draw three people. But if she'd had more time, maybe she would have done a huge crowd of people." I looked at the other clue, and my dream came back to me, the one with the starry sky.

"And maybe she would have drawn a bunch of stars. A whole sky full of stars!" I was getting excited. "I've got it! Maybe the first clue symbolizes night, so something is going on that has to do with night!" As I said it, I felt that what I was saying was true, some confirmation in my mind as it settled a bit.

"And the group of people, maybe there's a whole crowd with her. That must be it!" Zach said.

"It must be," I confirmed, "But what about the star? What about night? There's something missing."

"Let's brainstorm ideas," Zach decided. We had a very specific way of brainstorming; Dad had taught us to do it this way so we both would get a turn and not just depend on the other for answers. Most older siblings didn't ask the younger ones for help, but this system showed and reminded Zach that I could help too. We alternated, he would give an idea, and then I would. We would discuss whether we agreed of disagreed with the idea, and even whichever person suggested it might disagree with it; if you disagreed, though, you had to give a good reason why. We were carefully conscientious of the other at all times and never downplayed their ideas.

"Maybe she's telling us to travel at night." Zach kicked off the discussion.

"I doubt it. She would have sent another clue with the night this time; she knows we're travelling during the day because that's when I talk to her," Zach nodded, letting me know it was my turn, "Maybe she's telling us _she's _travelling at night."

"That's a good point. Maybe she wants us to think about why she's travelling at night, though. It really doesn't matter when she's travelling unless there's a reason why that's important." Zach started us on a new route of thinking. If we couldn't think of anything we'd backtrack and keep brainstorming on this path. "Maybe they need the stars to tell where to go. That would link back to the star she drew."

"It's possible; we'll keep that in mind." I was getting a headache. "Who could even control a large group of people? Why can't they just run away, for Criminy's sake? Even with guns whoever's after them couldn't get all of them." I grumbled. Zach heard me apparently, though.

"Liz, don't talk like that."

"Well, it's true! It's not like whoever kidnapped them is going to track them down if they get away. And how fast can they be? How strong can they be? It's like at school; if all the kids banded together to attack the teachers, they would overpower the authorities! I-" I was about to continue my rant, but I realized Zach's eyes were wide and unresponsive. "Zach?" He didn't answer, he just mouthed my words. 'How fast can they be? How strong can they be?' "Zach?" I was really worried.

"No, oh, no. Please, no. no, no, no, oh please, no." He murmured.

"Zach? Zach answer me! What's wrong?!" He looked at me, not answering my question directly, but making it apparent.

"How could I not see? You couldn't know, you just learned all this existed. Yet, you stumble across the answer. And I, who've heard all the stories so many times, had no idea. The star for night; they can't come out in the day time for fear of discovery." I began to hyperventilate. Vampires. That's who was fast enough and strong enough to hold a huge number of humans.

"Oh, no." I shook my head, refusing to believe it. Nita came lumbering into the clearing where we sat and hurried over to where I sat; laying down in front of me and letting me bury my face in her fur. I told her what happened, and as I did I sobbed. I cried myself to sleep, unable to face the world outside her fur.

**Zach POV:**

The trance began to lift from my mind when Liz began to cry. I started over to her to comfort her, but stopped. What could I say, it would be okay? That was a lie and we both knew it. I would have continued over anyway had the animal she was confiding in not looked at me with such feeling. In those eyes, I saw that I was not the only one who had lost someone loved, yet I was the one who had a chance of getting them back.

Liz began to quiet down and I soon realized she was asleep. I cautiously picked my way over to the bear; I was still wary of her even with my new-found respect of her. I stood awkwardly in front of her for a moment, but she pulled me to her side with her muzzle while being careful not to wake Liz.

"Thank you," I murmured, hoping that even if she couldn't understand me she got the gist of what I was saying from my tone, "Thank you for everything you've done for Elizabeth. And thanks for putting up with me." I hadn't totally gotten over how strange it was for my sister to spend so much time with a bear, but I no longer blamed Nita. Or was I just jealous? I hated that thought. Jealous of a bear, yeah right! And yet, did I hate it so much because it was true? I fell asleep against Nita's other side, in my moment of thought temporarily forgetting how much terror I felt for Ashley.


	11. Forgotten dates

**Zach POV:**

Ash. Vampires. Death. No, no, no. I shook myself awake from the nightmare, determined to remain strong. I tried to roll over, which resulted in a thick something blocking my airways; a.k.a. something was suffocating me. I jolted away from whatever it was, landing on my feet and looking wildly around. Nita had been woken when I spazzed out, and she glanced at her side; the one I hadn't been laying on. Her eyes widened, and she growled, and in that instant I knew Liz was gone. Where was she?!?!?!?!?!

"She's okay, she has to be. If she'd put up a fight against someone, I would have woken up," I tried, but failed, to convince myself. Maybe she was out after that berry bush we saw yesterday. Possible, but why wouldn't she wait for me? Sure enough, when I got to the bush she was nowhere to be found.

"D*** it!" I growled. Where could she be? I wandered the forest in vain and self-denial. Liz couldn't have been captured by whoever had Ash; we weren't that close or we would have known. I hurried back to the clearing and Nita, determined to find Liz. No one escaped with my baby sister. Then I got to the clearing.

"He what! But I'm okay!" No. way. All that for nothing? I'm going to kill her! I stood behind her, leaning on a tree until Nita pointed me out to Liz. Cheater.

"Oh, hi Zach." I didn't answer. "Zach? I'm alive." Really, Sherlock?

"Not for long." I enunciated each word before I sprang on her. I was careful not to actually hurt her. I probably would have had more effect if I could have vampire strength or agility. Oh well, no use wishing for the impossible.

"Hey! Get off!" She protested.

"Never!" I cried as though it were a battle cry, "I'll never give up!" I began to tickle her.

"Gah! Ah! Get off! Hahaha!" She tried to squeeze protests between her laughing. I stopped when she was out of breath and turning red, no need to be a murder. Ha, death by laughter. She was gasping for breath as I asked her where she had been.

"I… was checking… the date." She told me.

"Why?" I asked, bewildered.

"No reason. We've been out of contact with society so long I was just wondering." She was trying to avoid the subject, like there was something she didn't want me to know. Okay, she could keep it to herself; unlike her, _I_ don't pry when someone wants to keep a secret. While we were talking, Nita had been grabbing some berries. It wasn't until I heard her coming back that I wondered how she was carrying them. Before I could ask Liz, Nita came crashing into the clearing with the whole bush. Wow, just wow.

We ate until we were full, and then we shoved off. I mean shoved off in the literal sense; it's not as easy as you might think to get up on a bear's back. I seriously need a life, I can't spend my time making figures of speech literal. I need to talk, I've been so quiet the past few days while we ride.

---one hour later---

Now I'm really _really _bored. I'll take History over this any day.

---half an hour after that---

I'm going insane. But Liz doesn't seem to want to talk.

---twenty minutes after _that_---

My mind is not a safe place to be alone. I realize that now.

---fifteen minutes after that rather insightful thought---

I'M GOING MAD! I'M IN ISOLATION! I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE!

---ten minutes after the author of this story laughed hysterically at the madness---

GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe an imaginary friend will help. Hi Bob. No you can't take over my mind! Dang, he's gone; I vaporized him.

---two minutes after the author wondered if this adventure will end in an asylum---

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I have to talk to Liz. I don't care if she doesn't want to talk.

---one minute is used to gather the mind which have been scarred for life---

"Liz?" I asked, determined to start up a conversation. She seemed different today, and I wondered why.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"What _is_ the date?" I was curious as to why she wanted to know what day it was.

"Why do you want to know, mister I-don't-see-why-the-date-is-so-important?" she retorted. I sensed a little edge to her voice, though. Oh well, maybe I will pry.

"I'm wondering, and since you already looked, you might as well tell me." She did a combination sigh and groan before she answered.

"Fine, just don't go crazy on me; I don't want us to think about it. We have bigger things to worry about."

"What are you talking about?" She bowed her head.

"It's the 18th." She murmured. The eighteenth? What month was it? June? The eighteenth of June, then… oh. I'm a horrid big brother. I'm dragging her around, forcing her to keep going when we're both exhausted, on her birthday.

"Oh, Liz. Why didn't you tell me? We'll stop right here. Or we'll go straight to the closest town and get food, whatever you want. We'll keep going tomorrow." I felt horrible, how could I not realize this? She just turned around and glared at me.

"_This_ is why I didn't tell you. We can't waste a day while Ash and the," she choked on the next word, "the vamps keep moving. Is my birthday more important than all those people, Zach? I've celebrated thirteen of them, I can skip one." She had clearly been thinking about this the past few days. I tried to see it her way. If it were me, what would I want? Would I be responsible for them spending one more day in the clutches of their captors? Or maybe even responsible for their deaths? No, I supposed not.

"I'm sorry I didn't know Liz. But if you really want, we can keep going." She grinned, happy I understood. So why do I still feel guilty?

---**Night time**---

We were sleeping in a city tonight. We had come across it on our way to, well, wherever we're going. I wanted to find a decent place to sleep tonight, especially since it was Elizabeth's birthday. So she planted the idea as a small voice in the back of a hotel keeper's head to let us stay for free. It wasn't really unlawful since he offered. So what if we had something to do with it? Nita, though, was forced to stay outside city limits. Liz was concerned, but I assured her that if we got in trouble, she could contact Nita, and Nita could take care of herself if she got in trouble.

I lay back on the bed, sheesh it felt good, and tried to imagine Ashley here with me. What would she say if she saw me right now? Liz sat cross-legged on the other bed broadcasting "Happy Birthday to Me" through all family members' heads but mine. I had warned her the second time she sang that if she didn't get out of my head I would attack her again. It was almost funny how abruptly the music stopped. Dad must have been going insane; he had to listen to it in his head and everyone else's. That is, assuming Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper are still staying. Otherwise it was just him and mom. Bored of imagining Ash (and all her insisting I turn around), I turned the light off.

"Thanks. I totally wasn't using that." Liz's voice wafted across the gap in the beds.

"Your eyes we closed, smarty," I replied, already falling asleep. When she didn't reply, I assumed she had conked out. With a smile, I followed suit.


	12. A Phonecall and a Final Clue

****

I realized that for my past few updates I have no disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Zach: Guess what?!

Liz: I don't care!

Zach: Well, you better, because if our author gets sued and thrown off fanfiction we'll never find Ashley!

Liz: .............

Zach: ANMLLVR DOESN'T OWN TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!! Though she does own me

Liz: and apparently me, according to the script Zach just handed me a bit late

Zach: And Ash, assuming she's still alive...

Liz: Let's keep going so we can find out and save her!

Zach: Okay!

Before anything else I just have to say two things. These peeps deserve credit.

1) My friend Midna3452 (is that it? you know who you are) gave me the idea for this type of disclaimer. She uses them all the time in her stories. Plus, she knows how to flatter me to get me to update faster. Luv ya!

2) My friend McKenna for never shuting up about updating even when I told her to. Without her, these last 3 or 4 chapter still wouldn't exist. (McKenna, you realize you can sumbmit annonymous reveiws so I don't have to pester you to tell me what you think, right?)

Okay, I'm done. You can all read the story now.

* * *

**Elizabeth POV:**

RING! RING! RING! Grrrr… Darn phone. I put the pillow next to me over my face and held it there with my arm, blocking the noise just a little; I was hoping Zach would answer it so I could go back to sleep. The phone just kept ringing, though, so perplexed I looked out from under the pillow. Of course, Zach was still asleep; he could sleep through anything he wanted to. Last year he fell asleep in his Algebra class, and didn't even wake up when the fire drill bells started blaring! He got in trouble, duh. Mrs. Fitz wasn't one to take that kind of stuff and just ignore it. I sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"Liz?" the voice on the other end whispered. Auntie Alice! I love that woman.

"Auntie Alice! How did you… never mind. Stupid question; I'm just a little tired." Obviously she saw me and Zach here. Wow, no points for mind power there. She just laughed quietly.

"Yeah, but your father doesn't know I'm calling you; trust me, you don't want him on the phone. Especially after that little rehearsal yesterday. He's talking about forcing you to take singing lessons so you never do that again." It was my turn to laugh.

"Yeah, like that would change my voice." I replied.

"Your mom's here. One sec." I heard the phone getting passed off.

"Hey, Liz?" Mom checked to make sure I was there. Yeah, cause I had somewhere to be.

"Yeah, mom. How's it going?" I heard her exhale in relief, as if she expected someone else to respond.

"Everything's okay here; we all miss you, though. Your dad's going nuts; Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rosalie were passing through and stopped in. Everyone except Granddad and Grandma are staying with us; it's like back before you guys were born!"

"You never told me about that. What was it like then?"

"Hmmm? Oh, not much different, actually. We all lived with Granddad and Grandma and pretended they adopted the rest of us. Except me; for the short time I lived with them I'd just been kicked out of my house so it didn't need to seem like they adopted me." She said everything in a matter-of-fact tone, somehow being kicked out didn't hurt her, at least, not any more.

"huh." Was all I said.

"So, what about you guys? How's it going? Is everything alright? Where's Zach?" Her questions poured out in a torrent, she must have wanted to ask them for a while.

"We're doing well. We've been following clues Ashley carves into trees," I edited out the blood part. Come to think of it, I edited out the vampire part and the mortal danger part as well.

"Everything's great. Apparently I can talk to animals through their minds, just they can't respond. In words, anyways. But I met this really wonderful bear, her name's Nita, and she thinks of me as a cub or something. And I love her so much; don't worry, you don't have any competition or anything like that. But so she's carrying Zach and me around. Zach seems to think he has competition, though. He really didn't react well when he heard Nita would be traveling with us. He's sleeping right now, you know how he is. I wish I could dump water on his face to wake him up, but he would probably drown before he woke up." Mom laughed, and suddenly everything seemed like normal. I still knew what was going on and how bad things were, but I felt back in my comfort zone.

"Hmmm? What?" Zach began to stir. I gasped theatrically into the phone and stage-whispered,

"It's alive!" Mom and Aunt Alice both laughed this time; of course with vampire hearing they both could hear me.

"Who's on the phone?" Zach woke up fast, once he woke up.

"Mom and Auntie Alice."

"Can I talk?" he held his hand out.

"No!" I joked, hugging the phone. He just gave me an exasperated look.

"Now Liz, share nicely with your brother," Mom laughed from the other end of the phone.

"Fine." I gave the phone to Zach.

"Hey, Mom? Before anything else, there's this drugstore, and-" but before he could finish I saw him grin. "Of course, I should have known. Thanks, Aunt Alice." Then he got a confused look, "Who-" but he stopped talking and his face lost color. "Oh, hi dad." When the yelling didn't start, he looked surprised, "Okay, yeah, I'll stay safe." Pause "Okay, here she is." He handed the phone to me.

"Liz?" Dad's voice spoke to me. I knew Zach and I had completely lost his trust. I felt ashamed, even though I knew I did the right thing it was hard losing the trust I had built up over all the years.

"Yeah, dad?" I replied, and I heard the shame in my voice. Weak! I didn't want that to show.

"Liz, if you _ever_ sing 'Happy Birthday to Me' again, I will track you down and drag you to lessons." He said it as a threat. I was surprised he didn't mention how I had run away.

"I'll keep that in mind. I was just letting you guys know, in a very annoying repetitious way, that I had reached another birthday without dying. Though, with Zach being the only person to hang out with most of the time, I have been close to death."

"Hey!" Zach sounded mock-offended. I just ignored him.

"Liz? I know this is a lot to ask and I know you and I have a lot of tension between us right now, but I need you to do something for me. Please watch Zach; if he thought it was the only way to save Ashley he'd go to an old abandoned shack alone with no protection. You need to be on your guard, he won't tell you and I want you with him. Together you two are safer than alone. Please?" He spoke softer so Zach would be less likely to hear.

"Yeah, of course, dad." I was surprised and pleased by his request. I wondered if he thought more of me now because I had a power, like mom had suggested so long ago, or if it was being without adults and still doing well.

_We have to get going_ Zach mouthed to me. I nodded.

"Dad? Hey, we have to get going. Say bye to everyone for me, OK?"

"Sure. Come home soon! Love you!" He hung up; I was unwilling to turn off the phone first. Zach and I began to get ready to go.

**---Time Skip: 1 hour---**

Nita was waiting for us outside the city limits, like we had planned. She was well rested and well fed, so we were ready to leave immediately after we saw her. But just because we were ready doesn't mean we left right away. I refused Zach's help; I wanted to get on myself, I wasn't helpless. So I jumped, with the goal of landing on Nita's back. Instead, I landed in the top branches of a maple tree. Unfortunately, the top branches of trees aren't very strong. Nor am I a fan of plummeting toward the Earth from high up. I believe I screamed all the way down. Luckily, Zach, with Nita's help to support his arms, caught me before I hit the ground. I just stayed where I was shaking, I couldn't even bring myself to try and stand. Zach took a deep breath; I wasn't surprised he was terrified too, he almost lost his sister. I mean, everyone loves me, so duh he was upset!

"How did you do that?" He eventually asked.

"I…I don't know," I answered. More vampire powers? This was getting odd. Zach just looked at me with a forced smile.

"_Now_ will you let me help you up?" I gave him a still-shaky nod. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears; I could taste the adrenaline on the back of my tongue. Zach helped me back up, and we took off the way we had been going before we stopped.

Eventually, we made it to the next city, but we found nothing there. Nor did we find anything at the city after that or the one after that. At the fourth, however, we found the next clue, or smelt it, however the proper terminology goes.

"Zach?" I asked after I had copied it down into my book. Four arrows; up, down, left, and right; all pointed out from the center. It did not favor one or another, so there was no telling where she meant for us to go.

"What, Liz?" Zach sounded strained. I felt bad for him; he must not know what to do.

_Maybe she meant this as a reminder to you. Think back through you memories of her. Was there a time you two laughed about something like this?_ I mind-spoke more now, it just seemed better that way. It was just as natural as talking out loud, and this way there was no risk of someone hearing and teasing me about what I said. It just made more sense to me.

"I don't know, I can't think." He sounded frantic.

_Calm down! You panicking isn't going to help! Think, Zach. Relax. Deep breath in…_

"Stop it," he sighed, closing his eyes. I was quiet so he could think.

**Zach POV (A/N just real quick, I just have to do this flashback from his POV)**

_Ash and I were walking around. Just walking and talking, sometimes laughing. We came upon a group of signs with four arrows, one pointing along each street, naming them. Ash scowled up at it, and then laughed at my curious expression._

_"Whenever I see four arrows like that sign, at first glance they seem like one sign with arrows pointing all directions. And then I get all cross in my head and think 'If I go each direction it shows me, I'll either get pulled into pieces or go absolutely nowhere!'" I kissed her on the cheek._

_"As if I'd let you get pulled in a bunch of pieces." She laughed again._

_"I know. Guess that means I'm going nowhere!"_

Going nowhere. That was it! I have to go absolutely nowhere!

"I've got it!"

**Elizabeth POV**

"I've got it!" Zach opened his eyes and grinned.

"You've got what? The black plague?" I teased him, though I was genuinely curious.

"Yeah, right. Nowhere!"

"I know you don't have the plague. Where do we go?"

"That's my point," he explained, "nowhere. We don't have to go anywhere, we're already there. This city. Either somewhere in it or around it is Ash, and I'm going to go find her." Something struck a chord.

"You? Us. We're going to go find her." Zach looked down at me.

"No, you're going to stay here with Nita. Who knows what's going on?"

"No."

"Liz, I'm not budging on this one."

_And I am?!_ I furiously asked him.

"Yes, Liz, you must. Promise me you'll stay here."

_No. just no. you can't make me. I'll either sneak along or you take me. Stop wasting time and decide now._

"Liz…" he begged me one last time.

_I've given you my answer. You just don't like it._ Zach took a deep breath.

"Fine. But you _must_ bring Nita, and you _must_ run if I say so."

_I will run if you and Ash come too._ I responded, unwilling to leave either of them behind. He looked me straight in the eye as if to see if he could change this statement. I focused on putting as much determination and steel into my gaze as I could. He finally sighed, resigned to the fact that I was steadfast and not about to change. Together with Nita we scouted around the city, not sure entering it with a bear unless necessary were a good idea or not. As it turned out, we didn't need to go much further. A huge, abandoned, seemingly political building in decent condition stood in front of us all too soon for my terrified mind. But the thing that drew us to it was drop of blood on the marble railing. Ash had given us one last clue.

* * *

**Don't worry, the next chapter, nor the next chapter, will end the story. There's still a ton to come even after they... well, I won't spoil it.**


	13. Rescue Mission

**Elizabeth POV:**

Did you know that it is possible for a small-ish mansion/government building can be so much f***ing bigger when you're in it looking for someone and you're racing against the clock than if you weren't? Apparently, it's true. Zach and I ran in followed by Nita. We stopped rather abruptly, though, when we found ourselves in a hallway with tons of hallways coming off it.

"What now?" I wondered out loud, almost growling the words. Zach just hissed, beyond all recognizable speech. I would have teased him, but now was not the time. Just as I was about to suggest we were wasting time just standing there, Zach grabbed me and began hauling me down the hallway. I figured bringing up how degrading and annoying being drug around wouldn't help the situation, so I refrained with much difficulty. I'm just that used to annoying my brother that even in mortal-danger times I want to get on his case. Wow, Liz. Then it hit me like an eighteen wheeler. Okay, maybe not an eighteen wheeler, maybe more of a fourteen wheeler. Anyway. Ashley's blood. She had marked a hallway.

"You go that way. Just in case, you know? I mean, it's across the way and everything…" Zach began to try and force me out of danger once again.

"You'd have me go off on my own?" I asked innocently. He flinched at the thought.

"Take Nita, then," he said.

"And you think I'm letting you go off on _your _own?" I demanded, no longer keeping up the innocent pretense. Dad's words rang in my ears. _If he thought it was the only way to save Ashley he'd go to an old abandoned shack alone with no protection. You need to be on your guard, he won't tell you and I want you with him. Together you two are safer than alone._

"Yes." He replied confidently. He and I glared at each other for a brief moment before I realized this was beyond ridiculous and Ash could get herself killed in this lost time. I would have to be the bigger person and rise above the conflict. I put on my best giving-in face.

"Fine." I said. He looked taken aback before his entire face became suspicious.

"What are you planning?" he questioned.

"Nothing." I replied, bringing the innocent charade back. He obviously didn't believe me but he saw no way to stop whatever I was planning. I wheeled around with Nita and we headed in the direction of the opposite hallway. But just because we headed that way doesn't mean we continued that way. There's a big difference. As soon as Zach turned a corner and was out of sight, Nita and I headed back and followed him, keeping a safe distance so as not to alert him with Nita's claws. We continued that way until we accidentally ran into him. He was standing in another hallway with more hallways branching off it.

"What the… Liz? Oh, you decided to show yourself?" the teasing, brotherly light twinkled in his eyes, evident even through the stress that tried to cloud it.

"You knew we were following you?"

"Duh. I'd say detective is a career that is definitely out for you."

"Humph." Was all I could say. He gave a strained laugh.

"Come on. We've got to-" but whatever he was going to say we had to do was cut off by a piercing voice we both knew. I had never heard her so determined.

"Get away from me! No! Idiots! I hate you all! You'd have to kill me!" Ash's voice rang out, reverberating against the walls. We didn't bother to even look to see if the other were coming, we just sprinted towards the noise. "I'm not intimidated by you!"

"Say something!" Zach pleaded, "Let her know to keep them talking, we're coming! They can't kill her now!" I took me less than a second to realize he meant talking with my mind.

_Ash! What are you thinking?! Just keep them talking, we're in the hallway! What are you thinking?!?!?!?!?! _I called to her in my head, knowing she could hear me. We reached a fork in the road, so to speak.

"Which way?!" I demanded of Zach. He barely paused before we heard Ashley's voice pulling us along again.

"Yeah, you! You bring us here and you don't even give us a choice! No! Stop it!" We were all running to the extreme end of our abilities. I was beginning to tire, but I couldn't slow down no matter what. We were closer now and we could hear another voice so full of perfection it could only be vampire.

"Why should I, youngling?" It mocked her, toying with her. It was planning to kill her, but if she could only keep it going it wouldn't know what hit it. Zach was growling under his breath at the condescending tone.

"I won't let you treat us this way!" We could barely hear her feet backing away on the marble floors. I could imagine the vampire ghosting closer to her, playing with her.

"You've escaped me once. Never again." It was more menacing now, coming to the end of its sick entertainment. Nita came up behind me and threw me on her back and loped faster than I could ever run. Zach pushed himself faster than I thought possible.

"No! Get away! Stop!" We could hear the terror in her voice. She wasn't going to last much longer and she knew it. She didn't think we could make it in time but she wasn't giving up. Why? For the others? Maybe. Or did she just need that hope in what she thought to be her last minutes alive? Zach bolted ahead of Nita and me, just managing to be a bit in front of us.

_Ash! Hold on! Please! _I begged her not to give up. We could see the doorway ahead. I, at least, could see the shadows of the others trapped there. The others might have been too focused on running, I don't know.

"You couldn't believe I'd just leave you alone after you escaped. No, I wouldn't do that. It's just not my style." This guy was beginning to creep me out. Well, I'd already been creeped out, it was just getting worse.

"Please, no." Ash whispered. I steeled myself; we were almost in the room.

"Yes…" whispered the vampire. And at that moment, several things happened at once. We came bursting in and Zach roared. He really roared, like a vampire challenging another almost. Ash's eyes opened real wide, I suppose mine probably did too. I vaulted off Nita to stand at my brother's side, I knew about formal challenges from what Zach had both shown and told me as we travelled. Nita assumed a position slightly to my left and behind me. The vampire barely blinked, and soon he and two other vampires returned our challenge by forming their own attack formation. Zach had never told me what happened from here; he just said 'Let's hope that never happens.' So I just waited, assuming since Zach was the "leader" of this attack he would make the first move.

Zach jumped at the other leader, growling and attacking. I found he had more vampire instincts than he admitted; maybe he didn't want to admit them to himself. A male vampire with black hair reached out to tear my brother off the other, and I took that as my cue to attack. Nita followed me.

A female with blond hair tried to take Nita out; throwing her across the room. Apparently Nita is smarter than that. As she flew she wrapped two paws around a pillar and slid down with a sickening splat. She might not be dead, but she was definitely injured. I had no time to run and help, however, before the female looked pointedly at me, and I felt something deep within me. Then, she looked at me with more intensity, and it was ripped from me. Suddenly, the precious thing I had wanted to protect with my life was gone. I doubled over, gasping.

"Liz!" It wasn't Zach, who was terrified for me but unable to help, who cried out. It was Ashley. She came running over and tugged me away from the action. She held me as I sobbed.

"I know… I know… It'll be alright…" she murmured. It occur to me she might have gone through the same thing. That thought gave me strength. I hugged her back and the other humans looked at us, terrified of what was happening.

"Keep them safe." Was all I said to her before running back to my brother's aid. I couldn't see how we could win, against one vampire we would probably win, against two, possibly, but against three we stood almost no chance. I didn't even know how to kill a vampire. I fought the female. I watched as my brother got thrown against a wall, and I felt the surge of power through my limbs as I ripped her leg off. This was not something I would have been able to do before, but now I felt hope we could win.

_GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU CREEPY DISGUSTING SICK VAMPIRE! GET OFF MY BROTHER! _I screeched in the vampire's mind, giving Zach a chance to get up.

_We have to get them out._ I spoke in Zach's head referring to the humans. _We can't beat the vampires in here. Figure out a way to do it later or something, but we just have to run away now._ I watched, horrified, as the female reattached her leg to her torso. Zach nodded imperceptibly in my side vision.

_Ash, gather the humans together. We're getting out now._ I saw her nod as well. Zach and I kept fighting like we had no plan, keeping the vampires distracted from Ash and the humans that slowly gathered together. I backed towards Nita, the female coming after me.

_You okay to kick some vamp butt?_ I joked to Nita, though I really was concerned. I saw her paw twitch and took that as a yes. _We're leaving soon, so be on your guard. _She gave no sign she heard me this time, but I knew she had. I led the female closer. _NOW!_ I called to her. Nita jumped up and attacked. The vampire yelped in surprise, but quickly recovered and soon Nita and I were fighting together. We eventually pinned her down and I looked around to see where things stood, careful not to draw attention to myself. They seemed to be ready.

_Ready?_ I asked Ashley. She nodded, so I spoke to Zach. _They're ready. Get over there as soon as you can and put a field around them._ I knew he heard, though he couldn't answer because he was engaging both the males. One of them almost got his hands on Zach, but I ran so fast the room blurred until I reached them. I ripped the male away and engaged him separately. The female had gotten away from Nita, but Nita was more careful now and was staying safe as she continued to keep the female away from me. Zach got a pause in his fight, but he paused before going over to the humans, worried about me.

_Go!_ He ran to them at my signal and put his bubble around them. Ash calmed them down and reassured them Zach was safe as I tried to fight my way out. I knew Zach couldn't protect me because this was hand to hand. His bubble just wasn't that precise. The female escaped and Nita ran to me to help me fight. Soon we were surrounded by vampires.

"LIZ!" Zach yelled. He tried to run to help, but Ash spoke to him. Reminding him, I'm sure, that I would be fine and he would ruin everything if he left the humans unprotected. From the tortured look on his face I knew he believed her that staying was the right thing, though it was hard for him.

The female grinned and once again gave, and ripped away, the absolute thing I wanted. I had no idea what she was doing, but I knew it was her power. I gulped for air, but stayed on my feet. I had to get out of here for Zach's sake. The male closed in on one side, but Nita blocked him. There was no way I could fight my way out; I would have to run like a coward. As repulsive as the idea was, I knew I had to do it.

_On my signal, run between the male and female. Whichever male, it doesn't matter. _Nita nudged me, obviously asking what about me. _I'll jump over the female while she's distracted with- AH!_ The female attacked me with her power again, this time stronger than the last. I tried to contact Zach, but behind his bubble he was protected from all mental and physical things. I looked pointedly at him and hoped he got the message to let down his bubble when I came at him.

_Now!_ Nita bolted and I jumped. Zach let down his bubble for a fraction of a second as Nita and I both came at him at the exact same time; we were closely bonded. The vampires hissed in frustration and tried to enter the bubble, but of course they couldn't. The humans started panicking again, and I was unable to use my power to help calm them; I was too drained from using it so much, the stress, and whatever the female's power was.

"Stay together!" Ash called. "They can't get us if we stay in here!" And what happened next proved her point in an awful way.

A vampire flew at us. I flinched, still not used to Zach's power. Zach got pulled a bit closer to me, and consequently the bubble shifted. Nothing would have happened, except a mother tried to pull her child away and the child pulled back. The mother's hold slipped and the toddler fell out of our protection. Before Zach could readjust, the vampires converged on the young boy. Zach pulled my face against one shoulder and Ashley's face against his other, but we could still hear the mother's cries and the child's screams. Ashley sobbed and I clung to Zach. I was too shocked to even cry. When it was over, Zach let go of us and got down to Ash's height.

"Can you help us lead them out of here? Are you still alright enough for that?" She had been through a lot, and he was making sure she could handle this. She straightened up.

"I've been strong before, I can be strong now." She cleared her throat. "What just happened is terrible, but it doesn't need to happen again! Stick as close to each other as possible. Get ready to move forward as a group! The bubble will shift and you must move with it!" Her voice surged forward, and I found that in all the time I had known her, I had been blind to the natural leader buried in her.

Nothing more happened inside and everyone got out safely. We could see the vampires lurking in the shadows with newly-bright red eyes, but they knew better than bother us. We ran, me at the vampire speed I had discovered in the fight, away into the woods.


	14. All's well that ends well

**Hello, everyone! All you lovely readers! *random voice off stage. Probably my friend Midna3452 (did I get that right).* "Enough with the buttering-up! Tell them all ready!" All right, if I must. Unfortunatly, the chapters I am uploading right now ARE THE LAST IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE EPILOUGE! The epilouge is coming soon. It's so sad, finishing up. I just can't let go of my characters. Oh, well. I have to. Sometimes, if you truly love... *same voice* "SHUT UP! NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL ISSUES WITH FICTIONAL CHARACTERS! SHEESH!" well, then. I'll just get on with it.**

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Zach POV:

I had Ash back in my arms, finally. The rest of the humans were all gathered around Liz; she had managed to regain some strength and had managed to calm them a bit with her power. It was a bit scary, realizing that in posing as the little voice in the back of your head Liz could influence you any way she wanted. She swore to me she hadn't done it to me this trip, but I had to wonder. Like that time I was going insane, the day of her birthday, she might have been paying me back for forgetting her birthday. Ash had fallen asleep, and I was holding her easily. Too easily; she had lost weight.

"You okay?" Liz whispered. Most of the humans could do without her help not panicking, so she had come over. Of course, Nita was at her side. Even now that our adventure was over, I had no doubt the two would ever be separated long from now on.

"I guess." I answered. I was ecstatic to have Ash back and elated that nearly everyone made it out, but still I was horrified to see the damage done to not only Ashley, but the rest of the humans as well.

"What are we going to do with the rest of the humans? They have lives, but if the Voulturi find out they know, or if they tell, what then? There are children; they won't understand to keep their mouths shut." Liz was voicing the worries that had been plaguing my mind as well, but saying them out loud made them seem more real.

"I'm not sure; I'd like Ash to tell us everything before we make a decision. And these are people; I don't feel right making a decision about their lives. I don't know; Ash might know something that could help us." Liz nodded. She still seemed down, I suppose I wasn't the happiest person in the world, either. It hurt, though, to see her so upset.

"So, what about those vampire abilities? I'm getting worried; soon I'll be the only family member who's _not_ a vampire. What'll I do then?" She giggled.

"I'm not turning into a vampire."

"Oh, really? You have the extra power, which several vamps don't even have; you have the bloodlust and smell; the speed; the strength. What else do you need?"

"The sight and hearing," she replied in her "duh," manner.

"Bet you get those, soon, too. You'll be the ideal. You have a beating heart and all that, but all the perks of being a vampire. I'm jealous."

_Don't be,_ she murmured in my head. Trying, I assumed, to let Ash keep sleeping. I was about to tell her I wasn't, but suddenly I wasn't sure if I _was_ jealous. I didn't like being weaker than anyone, truthfully. You'd think a life with vampires would have cured me of that, but it didn't really. Ash started tossing and turning. She would have flown out of my arms if Liz hadn't grabbed her and used her strength to keep her safe. Ash started breathing faster and faster.

_Her heart. I can hear it, Zach. It's going so fast. We need to wake her up; she must be having a really bad nightmare!_ Huh. So, Liz had two things to go before full vamp status? Yeah right, now she had the hearing.

"Ash? Ash? Wake up. It's just a dream. You're safe, now. You're safe," I spoke to her while Liz struggled to hold her.

"NO!" Ash woke up with a yell. She looked around wildly for a moment, before realizing where she was. Liz set her down to let her stand on her own. Ash's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry. I…I…" I realized she was feeling embarrassed. It didn't even cross my mind after what she had been through she would feel that way after a bad dream.

"Shhh… You have nothing to be sorry for. You're safe now. You can go back to sleep." I realized I had jumped up when Liz had grabbed Ash, so I sat back down with Ash in my lap.

"I…I don't think I can. Not right now. I'm so used to being awake at night, it's weird to try and sleep now." I could see what she meant. Her whole sleep cycle had been reversed. It was going to take time to set it straight. "I… I want to talk about it. I know you want to know," Ash whispered.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," I reassured her, but Liz sent me a glare. It obviously said that I had just said Ash needed to talk, so why wouldn't I let her? Ash gave a smile; I had missed that smile so much.

"No, I need to talk. I need to get things straight in my own head," Ash sounded stronger, and I knew there would be no convincing her otherwise. Ash took my not responding to be a go-ahead.

"That day you asked me out on the date, the last day before, well… yeah. Anyway, I had gotten this note warning me these vampires were back. I planned to take it to Kinko's to shred; I assumed they had a shredder, and I didn't want to shred it at my house in case my parents asked me what I was doing. I panicked, though, when I couldn't find it. I started driving around for some reason, as if I would find it. I never found it. Instead, I ran into the vampires. They were about to leave, even though they hadn't found me, but I ran right into one of them." I remembered the note she was talking about. Ash paused.

"What's wrong?" she asked. I hadn't realized I had given any indication I was upset.

"It's my fault you were running around," I muttered.

"No! It was my own, stupid fault. I should've just left it."

"No, I had the note. That's why you couldn't find it. It fell out in the car that morning, and I took it."

"It doesn't matter," she was determined not to let me have the last say, so she hurried back into her story. "I ran into the female. She used her power on me to the max," she looked at Liz, "You don't realize what she was doing. She can make you pregnant, and tear the child or children away." I remembered when Liz had seemed so tortured during the fight. The female must have been using her power on Liz then. That must have been why the female couldn't affect me; I'm a guy. Thank goodness. Ash continued.

"I passed out from the intensity of it. Next thing I knew, I was with another group of humans, and he was there. Just laughing at me." Her voice shook in anger.

"Who?"

"I don't know his name. The leader of the vampires. He's been in this business for at least three years. Three years back he captured me, but I managed to get away. I have no idea how I did it. One minute I was crying, and the next I was safe back at home. It was like nothing had happened." She twisted to look at my face, "That's how I know about vampires." Now I was getting really confused.

"What business?" Liz asked before I could. She was enraptured by the story already; she had always liked story time at the library more than I had. Ash looked away from both of us. I almost couldn't hear her when she replied.

"Human pets." I remembered that's what many vampires had considered Mom before she had been changed. I hadn't imagined there was actually such a thing. I pulled Ash tighter to me. She took a deep breath and continued.

"We began to move. I was surprised when Liz explained you were both coming. At first, I was upset Liz was coming, but then I was relieved Zach would have someone else to help out. We finally stopped to rest. I carved stars all over that village. The one you guys found was the last one I drew. We were beginning to move again, and I was falling behind. The vampire at the back didn't see what I was doing, but he was angry I was so slow, so he threw me down. I cracked my head open right on the tree. The leader patched me up all right, but that was how the blood got on the tree. Then Liz told me how you guys found the clue, so I knew blood could draw you guys to my next clues." I stiffened. I couldn't believe the vampires were that cruel.

"I hadn't know you guys could smell blood, but know that I did, I was able to scratch myself at each clue and I only had to carve each clue once." It was our own fault Ash kept cutting herself. If we hadn't told her the blood helped, she wouldn't have kept scratching herself. Ash put her hand on my arm. _She_ was comforting _me_. How could she do that, after all the reassurance I knew she needed, she was comforting me.

"We got to the government building thingy, and, well, you know the rest." I did know the rest. The fight, everything.

"The other male, the one that wasn't the leader, he was new. He kept the humans from knowing what they saw. Only I knew what was really going on, so don't say anything to them about vampires or anything." I felt Liz relax beside me. That was the best news besides keeping Ashley safe. We could just let the human's go! Ash leaned against me, and Liz lay down beside me and went to sleep.

"I'm glad you're safe, Zach. I was terrified for you." Ash whispered.

"I know, baby. I know." I held her the rest of the night, sitting up even as I dozed off.


	15. No longer calm before the storm

**So, if anyone's wondering why I have so much to update in about 2 minutes, let me tell you. 1 week to the beach (where they had the worst lightning strike EVER in the HISTORY of the island), and then to Boston (about a 10 hour drive from the beach) gave me a TON of time. I mean, I ran down the batteries on my DS, iPod, and cell phone. The computer wouldn't have made it except my dad found an outlet in the car. Pretty sweet, huh? Unfortunatly, I don't carry chargers I think unnessesary with me when I have limited leg room, so I could only keep my computer alive. Unlucky for me, lucky for you. *same random voice from the previous chapter* "WHY DON'T YOU EVER SHUT THE $#% UP?!" Well. So rude. I was getting to that part. See, I'm gonna miss my readers, so I'm milking my A/N's to the max. *Same voice. I may as well assume it's Midna3452 or whatever the #!$ her username is.* "Oh, lucky us. Joy." You don't have to read the comments, miss gripe-monster. "If I don't, you'd kill me." Hmmmm... she may have a point...**

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Zach POV:

The rest of the humans had gone on their way, so it was just Liz, Ashley, and I who were travelling together. I was still terrified the vampires were going to show up, but I tried not to let on that fear to the girls. They had enough to worry about, though they were frequently happy. Ash was teaching Liz how to cook without a stove, just out in the wilderness. Liz didn't really have the knack, but it was fun watching them bond over attempted dinner.

We were getting a bit closer to home, maybe seven more days. It had taken Liz and me a while to get to where that government building was, and for some reason it was taking longer to get back home. Maybe we were just more relaxed. Ash was starting to fall asleep closer to night, though she was still far off schedule. I think Liz and I were sort of forcing her to stay awake during the day, though Ash had trouble staying awake. Maybe that's another reason it was taking longer to get home.

It was night, now, though. Ash was still awake, as were Liz and I. We never went right to bed. We were all talking. We weren't talking about anything in particular, especially not the capture and vampires. Ash was spread out on the ground, laying her head on my leg, and Liz was sitting up across from us. There was a small break in the conversation before Liz panicked with a gasp so huge she was guaranteed to have the hiccups. She leaped up, facing something we couldn't see. I turned around, but saw nothing. She must have gained vampire sight. This didn't come as a surprise, really. Just her panic was startling.

"LOOK OU-" she never completed the word 'out' before she crumpled on the ground.

"LIZ!" Ash cried. I pushed my bubble out to protect us from whatever Liz had tried to warn us of. I heard a hiss. Facing the direction Liz had seen whatever it was, I was able to see three vampires running towards us. I stood, frozen. There was nothing I could do but keep us safe. I had no way to kill them. In my peripheral vision, I saw Ash's head whip around. I didn't make the connection between this and the flying, burning stick that flew towards the vampires until much later.

The fire burned around the growling trio. It burned out of control, but we were safe inside my protective shield. Liz writhed on the ground, pressing her lips together tightly to keep any sound from escaping. The fire closed in around the vampires as I tried to keep Ashley from watching. She, though, was determined to make sure they would never bother her again. I figured it was her right, so I didn't force her to not look. Soon, they were gone, never to bother us again.

The fire, though, raged on. We ran out of the small clearing; I carried Liz. Ash ran into the near-by city and straight to the nearest policeman. Liz and I stayed out of sight. Liz was still squirming in pain, and I was too terrified for her to be of much help. My head had cleared a little, but I was still scared. Within the hour, we were all on our way again, and the fire was put out. Nita carried Ashley, who was exhausted from the experience. I lugged Liz. Don't tell her I said this, but the girl weighs a ton! Especially when she was struggling.

"Is she…okay?" Ash asked softly. We both knew Liz wasn't okay, but we had no idea what was going on.

"I…I don't know," even to my own ears, my voice sounded strangled. We were too far from home to get any help from anyone.

"Should we get her to a hospital?" Ashley was trying to find some way to help.

"With her powers? No. What if they found something indicating what we are. She might not even have the same types of systems as humans. They probably couldn't help. We can't risk it," I felt terrible for saying we couldn't even try, but Liz would kill me if we did try, anyway. I looked up at Ash and found her crying.

"It'll be okay. It has to be. She'll be alright. We just need to help her however we can, now." I comforted Ashley the best I could. Liz whimpered.

"Shhh… you'll be okay…" I knew I was lying as I said the words. I had no idea if she'd be okay.

"We need to sleep," Ash mentioned from Nita's back. I realized she was right. If I looked past my adrenaline, I could see I was tired. We settled down, Liz against Nita still jerking every so often in her sleep; me and Ash on Nita's other side.

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**Does everyone hate me now? Midna3452, I swear, if you review and give it away I'll *insert many death threats here. I'm done with this chapter.***


	16. Things go downhill but no ditch stops us

**Hello! It's me again! *Midna 3452* "Oh why, oh why, oh why?" Hmph. Always so mean. Grrrr.... Anyways, I just realized I'm probably ticking people off by jamming up thier e-mails with my bajillion updates. *Midna 3452* "No, YA THINK?!" Well, I was going to apologize, but now I just apologize to everyone except her. Grrr... (ANMLLVR stomps off to do reasearch on hobos in Tornado Alley. Don't ask.)**

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Zach POV:

I woke up with a jolt to Liz's cry. Whatever was causing her this pain was getting worse. I had known that this wasn't going to get better overnight, but deep down I had hoped I would wake up to a perky, back-to-normal Liz. Nowhere close. Ash jumped up and went to her, putting her hand on Liz's arm. Liz subsided back to squirming and breathing in short, half-breaths.

"H….H…Hot," she murmured. My breath caught; I was, well, not happy really, but glad she could communicate. I went to kneel on the side not occupied by Ashley.

"Liz? Liz, can you hear me? Come-on, Liz. You have to answer," she just shook her head frantically, in a frenzy. I guessed she was trying to respond without screaming, but what did I know? Ash got up and hurried off. I stayed with Liz, I couldn't abandon her now. Who knew how much longer she had? No, I couldn't think like that. Liz was going to be fine. Nita came over to us, placing her nose on Liz's forehead.

FIRE!!!!! FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE! I'M ON FIRE! PAIN! PAIN PAIN!

And then, it was gone. Nita was cowering, so I knew she felt it too. Liz's breath hitched. I knew what I had felt was what she was feeling. When Nita came over, Liz must have been trying to console her. That was just the thing Liz would do. Then, the pain must have broken through her control and hit Nita. It had even broken the boundaries of other minds, namely mine, and allowed me to feel what Liz felt.

"Liz…" I gasped; I still hadn't caught my breath. Ashley came back with moss soaked with cool water from a stream we had passed earlier. Her face was still twisted, so I knew she had felt it too. She placed the watery mush on Liz's forehead and came to sit on my lap. I hugged her close to me.

"What could that _be_?" Ash murmured, probably to herself.

"I think... I _thought… _she might be changing. You know, into a vampire. She's been gaining vampire traits and sight was the last she didn't have. When she saw the vamps way before we could, I thought, well, maybe that was it. But the change stays the same until the end, when the heart stops. She's been in worse pain with time." I hated saying it; extinguishing that last ember of hope I had. But it was true.

"I want to get more water-soaked moss for her," Ash said, "we're close to a city. Find some money, or steal some if you need to. Use a pay phone to call back to your house. Isn't your grandfather a doctor? Get him to set up at your house, so he's ready when we get there. Tell your parents what's going on, they deserve to know; they _need_ to know." Ash methodically planned out what I was going to say. She knew me well. I would probably freeze up on the phone. How do you tell your parents their only daughter, their only other kid, was dying? No, no, no. She wasn't dying. She would be okay.

"I'll go after you get back. We shouldn't leave her alone." Nita growled, as if making it obvious she would stay and I hadn't missed her. How could anyone miss her? She's HUGE! "Without a human who can communicate with other humans if some hikers happen upon us," I amended for Nita's sake. She sighed and plopped her head back down again. Ash nodded and ran off. I scooted closer to Liz, who shot her hand out and gripped my arm in a death-grip. I moved her to my hand and just let her pulverize it with her nails. It was the least I could do for her. I was so concentrated on my sister; I didn't hear Ash come back.

"Go," she put her hand on my arm and pulled me up, "we'll be fine. Don't forget to make sure your grandfather sets up. We'll race home as fast as we can." She looked up at me, trying to force the information into my brain. I nodded numbly; my mind retained the information, but the words meant nothing to me. I ran into the near-by city; the sooner I finished this call, the sooner we could get going.

_Sorry! We're not available right now! Please leave your name and number and we'll try to get back to you soon!_ Oh, great timing for the voicemail. Brilliant! What am I supposed to say?! 'Hi, mom! Hi dad! Liz, Ashley, and I made it out alive! Oh, by the way, Liz is currently alive, but that's probably temporary! Love you, bye!' Yeah, definitely. Mom and Dad were probably just ignoring the phone. They do that a lot when Liz and I aren't home. They think I don't realize. Oops! Almost missed the beep!

"Mom! Dad! Pick up the phone; I know you're home! Emergency! Come on, pick up! PICK UP! Come on already! WHAT PART OF EMERGENCY IS TOO-!"

"Zach? What's wrong?!" My mom's worried voice picked up. I just couldn't tell her; she would panic.

"Er… I need to talk to Dad. Is he there?" I heard the phone passed off.

"Zach?" Dad's voice came on. It was slightly reassuring to hear his voice again.

"Yeah. Dad, you need to get Granddad to our house right away. Tell him to set up everything he needs. Something's wrong with Liz. She… I can't explain. Her heartbeat's really fast. I felt what she felt for a second with her gift. It's like being burned alive. She's crying and writhing and there's nothing I can do and…" I realized I was crying. I madly wiped away the tears; Liz wasn't crying, why should I?

"When did this start? Could she be changing into a vampire?" Dad's voice was clipped and methodic.

"Yesterday. She can't be changing; I thought that at first too, actually. But it's getting worse all the time. The change stays the same until the very end, right?"

"Yes. I'll…I'll call Carlisle. And Alice. Everyone. We'll be waiting at home. You just get her here as fast as you can. How soon can you get here?"

"Maybe five days, if we race. Which we will. Dad…" I trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say.

"I know, Zach. Just get her here as fast as you can. It'll be okay. Go now. I'll call everyone," he tried to reassure me, but I could hear the terror boiling under his calming exterior.

"Bye Dad. Tell Mom bye."

"Bye, Zach." I hung up the phone quickly before I ran back to where I had left Ash and Liz; rudely pushing aside people as I did. The only person I didn't shove was a little old lady who I noticed at the last minute before I barreled into her. I slowed as I reached the spot, though, listening to Ashley's voice. She was speaking to Liz.

"I'm so, so sorry. If you hadn't come after me, you'd be at home right now. I've said that so many times. And each time I do I can just imagine you telling me not to be stupid," she gave a strained laugh. "Thank you, though. It's terrible, but I'm just so glad you came after me, anyway. I'm awful to say this now, but when I heard your voice in my head in that building, well, I've never been so happy or relieved in my life. I'm so, so sorry. I know you don't blame me, but you should. I know Zach doesn't blame me, either, but he should too. Maybe your family will be clear-sighted and blame me. I don't know whether I hope they do or don't. I-" she stopped talking when I entered the area. I scooped her up in my arms.

"Of _course_ I don't blame you. The family doesn't either. It was my choice to come after you and it was her choice to come along," I hung my head, "it was my fault, really. I tried to get her to stay, but she wouldn't. If I'd just tried harder-" Ashley covered my mouth.

"This isn't your fault, it's mine. You can't take the blame for this," she was going to keep talking, but Liz thrashed worse than usual, catching our attention. She stretched out, and as she did she screamed,

"SHUT UP!" Ash and I raced over to her. Ashley had found one of my shirts and, assumedly with Nita's help, ripped it into strips to tie the cool moss onto Liz's wrists, ankles, forehead, and the back of her neck. This way, we would be able to travel with Liz as comfortable as she could be. I doubted it helped much, if at all, but it made Ash feel better to have something to do. Plus, anything that might keep her even a bit more comfortable was great.

Ash and I grinned sheepishly over Liz. I was actually a bit happier knowing Liz wasn't so far gone she couldn't understand us.

"Sorry, Liz," I put my hand on hers, "We'll try not to blame ourselves. 'K? But then you need to focus on getting better. Promise." I knew she wasn't going to answer, but I hoped she could hear me. Ash and I looked at each other.

"How long can you go without sleeping?" I asked her. She gave me a grin.

"At least 12 hours longer than you can." I picked Liz up and placed her on Nita. Ashley sat behind her, keeping her on. I ran beside them, the idea of making Liz healthy again driving me; helping me in my race against time. The prize? Quite probably Liz's life.


	17. She did her best

**Me again! You'd think I'd get tired of this, since I'm doing this all in a strech, but I toatally don't mind. It's fun. Please don't send me to the men in the white suits for that comment. It wasn't the most insane thing I've done. *Midna 3452* "I know. I've know you..." counts the years. I won't write it down here in case she's reading this. It would probably freak her out. "OMG! NONONONONONONONONO!!!!! That's impossible! TOO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I...I..." runs out. I do that to people.......**

:POVZach

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The next few days passed in a daze. The basic summary of the passed time went like this:

Day 2 since Liz collapsed:

Ashley and I replenished the moss with water. Liz began yell periodically. In the beginning when she would yell, we would stop and comfort her, but we eventually realized we were wasting too much time. It tore at my heart, but the most we could do was have Ash talk to Liz and rub her arm as we continued on. This was the second day we didn't sleep.

Day 3:

Liz began to thrash so bad Ash had trouble keeping her on Nita. We ended up strapping her, with much difficulty, to Nita. Liz's yells turned to screeches, but they are less frequent. Instead, she cries. I'm not sure which is worse. The day comes and goes, and with it the last hope that Liz was changing. The change takes three days. I don't know if even Granddad can fix something like this.

Day 4:

Much to Ash's disappointment, she fell asleep on Nita before I slept. Liz never seems to tire. She just keeps struggling with whatever is attacking her. Every time we think she's passed out or gone to sleep, she gets worse. Ashley is terrified, but she tries to hide it. I can only hope I hide my panic better than she does. We're not as close to home as we had hoped we would be by now. As much as I despised it, I let Ash convince me we could go fast enough any longer for it to be worth missing sleep. We slept tonight for the first time in three days.

_Today is Day 5._

We're not going to make it home today. We slept well into the day even with Liz's yells and thrashing about. We probably couldn't have made it from where we are even if we were well rested and started early. Her heart is so fast; I'm worried it's going to tire out. I know how to do CPR, but that isn't going to save her if her heart stops and is too tired to keep going.

And then, suddenly, Liz started crying and screaming so loudly, it was obvious this was the last leg of her struggle. We stopped; obviously there was no need to keep rushing. We weren't going to make it. I quickly tore the straps holding Liz to Nita and laid her down on the softest spot I could find on the ground. Ashley was shaking and crying silently. I could feel the wetness on my own cheeks, but I didn't bother to wipe them away. Ash and I knelt beside Liz. I didn't bother to see exactly where Nita was, but I was sure she was there somewhere.

Liz convulsed, and then was still. Her eyes were open; there was a small, faint flicker of life in them. She reached up and patted my cheek, oblivious to the tears running ever faster down them.

"Don't blame yourself. You're the best brother ever. I'm glad I came with you." Ash was sobbing silently, even harder than before.

"And you're the best sister. Just, stay with me, k? Liz, just stay with me. You said I'm the best brother. Just stay for me, then, please? Liz, _please_! What about Mom and Dad?! Just stay! Please!" I was begging. A flicker of guilt and pain crossed her face when I mentioned Mom and Dad. I felt bad as soon as I saw it. She didn't get stronger when I said it. She was going, and there was nothing I could do about it. I just made it worse.

"Tell them… I… did my….best," she murmured. She was leaving. I nodded, crying even harder.

"Of course, Liz. Of course you did. I'll tell them." She slowly closed her eyes. They didn't reopen. Nita howled, and Ash's sobs became audible. It just picked Ash up and cradled her, burying my face in her hair.

We slept there that night; none of us had the energy to go anymore. There was no drive anymore. No motivation. I had lost my race against time.

* * *

**Okay. You all officially hate me right now. I know it. Oh, my brother says hi. And no, you can't use him to stalk me or anything. He's my OLDER brother. Somehow, HE ended up with all the muscle. I get to be the weak, younger sibling. Sucks at sports. All that jazz. GRRRRRRRRRR.........................**


	18. A rude awakening

**LAST CHAPTER BESIDES THE EPILOUGE! WHICH DOESN'T COUNT! I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SAD! *Midna 3452* "SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE!" I know you don't. That's why you're reading it. *Midna 3452* "EXACTLY!" sees me trying not to laugh. "Wait... No..."**

* * *

Zach POV:

"ZACH! GET UP NOW! USE YOUR POWER!" My dad's voice startled me awake. Why did he care? Had he not seen Liz yet? There was no point in hurrying anymore. No reason. I opened my eyes. My dad's frantic face was turned towards Liz. So he had seen her. Did he not understand? Or maybe it was self-denial. Ashley shot up next to me, then collapsed against me.

"Zach! Now!" And then I knew I must be dreaming. Because Liz shot to her feet. But then my incredulous eyes met her blood red ones, and I realized this was no dream. Not in my wildest dreams could I have conjured up that she had, indeed, changed. My baby sister was a vampire.

"Dammit," my dad growled. He put himself in between Ash and me, and Liz. Why would he be upset? Was he that against his daughter living forever? My sleep-clouded mind didn't register the reason for dad's worry until Liz crouched and hissed. She was a newborn vampire. Ash was human, and I had human blood running in me. I threw my bubble out just in time. Dad and my sister collided as she launched herself at Ash, Nita, and me. Dad tried to get her from behind, but I remembered newborns were stronger than normal vamps. Liz forgot us temporarily as she pinned Dad to the ground.

Of course, Dad didn't fight without hesitating; it _was_ his daughter, deranged or not. That hesitation would've cost him his life if the rest of the family hadn't at that moment crashed in and joined in.

Uncle Jasper went straight for Liz, Aunt Alice with him. Mom paused on the edge of the forest, taking in the scene, before she went to Dad and stood at his side. She didn't really get in the action, but she was ready to help if she had to.

Uncle Emmett spoke quickly with Aunt Rosalie before he ran off, presumably to check and make sure no humans came this way. Aunt Rosalie came over to us, and I let her in my protection. Granddad glanced at Ashley and me, making sure we were okay, before going to try and help out where he was needed. Grandma came over to us, and I let her in also.

Uncle Jasper, Aunt Alice, and Dad managed to drag Liz away into the forest with Mom and Granddad hovering. Aunt Rosalie came and hugged me fiercely.

"Are you okay?" the question was so simple, but so complex.

"I…I think so," I replied. I was shaky. On one hand, I was ecstatic; my sister was alive after all! But on the other hand, she had just tried to kill me. I still loved her, but that experience would shake up the steadiest person. I glanced over to Ash, but Grandma was talking to her, so I decided not to disturb them. As no one was mentioning Nita, I assumed Mom and Dad had told everyone about the phone conversation from the hotel. Aunt Rosalie just ran her fingers through my hair and hugged me. For once, I didn't push her away. I just hugged her closer, forgetting how un-cool it was.

A few minutes later Uncle Emmett, Aunt Alice, and Granddad came back into the clearing. They paused in front of the bubble I had forgotten about. I let it down, and Aunt Alice came right up to me and hugged me. I hugged her back briefly.

"Your mom and dad wanted me to tell you they're proud of you. They would have come back, but they have to stay with your sister," I was nodding before Granddad finished. Of course, I hadn't really expected them to come back. Liz would really need them now. Uncle Emmett clapped me on the back; he understood I'd had enough hugs for the day.

We ran back to the house at vampire speed; Aunt Rosalie carried me and Grandma carried Ash. Nita would catch up with us. Uncle Emmett had tried to pick her up, but Nita had declined. Declined in this context most nearly means 'growled ferociously and menacingly.' The run put me in higher spirits; I always had enjoyed the rush it gave me.

We got home, and sat down. Ashley promptly fell asleep leaning her head on my shoulder. I wasn't surprised; she'd gone days with only one night of sleep, had most likely the craziest day of her life, and the sofa was just that dang comfortable.

Aunt Alice explained, in a low, quiet voice so as not to wake Ash, that she had had a vision of Liz waking up. The only thing was no one had made the decision to go yet, so in her vision we were all massacred. Even after they decided to go, it was so close the vision kept fluctuating. That must have been why Dad was so panicked when he found us. He hadn't known if we were all dead yet. Aunt Alice finished her explanation, and we all sat there in silence. I don't know what everyone else was thinking about, but I know I was just thinking about Ashley; how brave she was, how strong she was. In a few minutes, I heard a familiar voice in my head.

_Zach?_ It called tentatively. _I…I'm sorry. Mom and Dad are here with me. They said they'll buy us webcams so we can talk that way. I can't wait to talk to you._ I caught a bit of hesitation, though. I wondered why she wouldn't want to talk to me. Was it because, when we thought she was dying, I had given up saving her? She had every right to hate me for that. She sighed mentally.

_I heard the heard the hesitation in my own voice. I was so sure I could hide it. Oh well. I'm embarrassed. There, I said it. I'm ashamed of how I acted. I had hoped I could hide that. I know you'd tell me I'm silly if you could respond._ She laughed through the connection. _Mom and Dad have told me what happened was perfectly natural, I have nothing to be ashamed of, yada yada yada. I can't wait to talk to you. You won't BELIEVE some of the stories they told me about when Mom was a newborn. There's one with Uncle Jasper and Dad……._

And as she told me the story, I knew we would all be okay. She was herself, and, luckily, she wasn't mad at me. One day, maybe I would become a vampire. But then I would have to turn Ash, and I saw how painful the change is. Maybe I'll just stay half-human and lead a normal life with Ash. I have plenty of time to decide, and a sister to consult.

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**So sad! I just ended it!!!!!!!!!!! GGGRRRRR! Self, why'd you do it?! *myslef* "you know as well as I do. You're me and I'm you, but you're you and I'm me." Hmmm... OOOO....KKKKK then.**


	19. Epilougue

**Just so everyone knows... this is not the end! I finished this, then had a bunch of dreams about what things could have happened. I'm not ready to let go of Liz and Zach yet. So there will be extras coming. They take place before the epilougue, but they didn't really fit in normally. You'll see. **

**Oh, and reviews might help me update faster. I have so many fewer reviews for this story than from I'm Pregnant!Horray, Groan. Seriously, I was looking at it with a friend, and it's sad. So few reviews. So please, people. It seriously made me feel like you people don't like it. There are a BUNCH of chapters that had no reviews. That's right. None. I don't mean to whine, but I hope you guys like this story more than you let on. **

**I'll soon be putting up an acknowledgement section of people who review faithfuly and have stories I think are worth checking out. That's right, if you review, I'll look at your stories and if I think they're good I'll tell people to go look. I hope that will motivate people to review _and _be a place people turn to to read stories after this one is finished. So, luv you all! **

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_A FEW YEARS LATER…_

**Zach POV:**

I stood at the end of the aisle in front of the alter. Uncle Emmett had offered to marry Ashley and me, but Ashley wanted a true minister. So, instead, Granddad married us. Ash wanted to keep it small. The main reason was she insisted it be in the sun, but she didn't want to exclude my family. Instead, we chose to have it be just my family. Her family wasn't an issue; we had known we would have to move soon, so Ash just hadn't returned to her family. She was officially missing, but no one really was watching for her.

Liz proceeded down the aisle as the Maid of Honor. Her dress was a barely pink-tinted cream. I didn't pay much attention as Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie escorted by Uncle Jasper and Uncle Emmett followed. I had eyes only for the back, where I knew, hidden behind a curtain, was Ashley. As wedding march began to play, Grandma and Mom, the only observers, stood. And from behind the curtain stepped the most beautiful woman alive.

Ashley slowly paced down the walkway towards me. Her dress flowed behind her, a deep pink that perfectly set off her hair. Aunt Alice gave a sigh of relief. Apparently she had been worried Ash would mess up her dress or hair. As if that were possible; she could never look messed up. My father escorted her down the aisle. It was sort of odd, but Ash had said it was fine, and Dad was the only male in my family she really knew, apart from me.

Finally, after what seemed like years, the most beautiful woman in the world took my hand before the alter. Granddad began the marriage speech, or whatever it's called. I concentrated on breathing and giving off an air of confidence; trying to help Ash, who was trembling beside me. Too soon, but too late, it was time to say our vows. I took a deep breath and launched into mine first.

"Ashley Quinn. I haven't always protected you, and I will never hover over you to do so. I will never deny your right to do as you please. But I can promise, in the times I fail to protect you, I will always come after you. I love you forever and always," my speech was short, but it was the best I could do. I had never been great with words. Though my speech hadn't been the greatest, Ash's eyes filled with tears. I gently wiped one away that escaped. She smiled up at me and began her vow.

"Zach Cullen. I've always loved you. You've always been there to cheer me up; always been there to show me the silver lining, even when I could only see the cloud. Even the thought of you has made me strong, confident, and sometimes a bit crazy. I have always, and will always trust you with my life. I love you," it was my turn, now, to try and not cry. She was so beautiful and confident. I loved her so much.

"Zach Cullen. Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Granddad was asking. It was odd, seeing him so serious; though, I suppose, it would've been stranger if Uncle Emmett were up there being serious. Then again, Uncle Emmett would probably just smile the whole time and not bother trying to be serious at all.

"I do." I replied.

"And do you, Ashley Quinn, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Ash looked into my eyes so deeply she seemed to be searching my soul. The feeling was not uncomfortable, yet it was not comfortable. It was in a class of its own.

"I do." She answered.

"You may now kiss the bride," Granddad concluded. Ash smiled, and I saw the sun shining through that one smile. I bent down and kissed her, knowing our love would last forever.

"WOHO!" Liz whooped when Ash and I pulled apart. The stern atmosphere disappeared as we all laughed, which was probably Liz's intent to begin with.

The family began to file out; the women hugging us, the men shaking our hands or giving pats on the back. Actually, a few of the males in my family hugged Ashley, but guys hugging guys is one of those things that just gets awkward in real life. Liz gave each of us an extra huge hug. Well, extra huge for Ash and me, not so much for vampires.

After the family left, I kissed the top of Ash's head. She looked up at me, and in that moment, I could see all the reasons for us staying human written on her face. And I was glad we had made the choice.


	20. Extra1: Liz comes home

**Alright, here's the first extra. I've got about 5 or 6 by now. I'm still not excited about the number of reviews I'm getting, but I suppose I'm at least getting some. I don't mean to complain, and I know in my head people are reading my story, but in my heart I'm sometimes really depressed about how many people tell me so. It makes me feel like you _don't _like it enough to take the time to tell me how it is. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I know that sounded sappy, but it's true. The acknowledgement page is in the making.**

**Elizabeth POV:**

I was in the forest, looking at the house on the other side of the front yard. _My house _I mentally corrected myself. It had been barely a year, and yet the home I had lived in for as long as I could remember already seemed disconnected from me. My eyes had diluted since my awakening as a newborn vampire from a bright red to amber. It had been so difficult to keep them that way; so often I slipped up. Less often, but still not foreign to me, my eyes had reverted back to red. These were the times Mom or Dad were for some reason less capable than usual. Even little things could be the difference between the red and the gold; a head start, one person (a.k.a. grown vampire) short, that sort of thing. And now we were going to forget all the mishaps and throw me amongst blood intentionally; my brother and Nita. I cringed away from the house, planning to make a break for it. But before I could, two pairs of hands formed an unbreakable net behind me, not letting me go.

"I can't do this," I whispered, not willing to take a chance Zach might hear me and think me a coward. It would be best if we left and pretended this never happened.

"Yes, you can," Dad knelt down and looked into my eyes. I looked away, unable to meet his gaze. He was amazing, his resistance astounding. There was no way he could understand; he had tasted his singer's blood once in a time of need, been surrounded by the blood, and stopped. He had kissed his singer, time and again. And, obviously, done other things since I was alive. But I really, _really,_ didn't want my mind to go there. Too creepy.

"You don't understand!" I could tell I was getting hysterical. My emotions, though they were in much better check than in the beginning of my vampire life, were still all over the place. "I can't! I'll kill them!" I tried to run again, but they wouldn't let me go.

"Honey," my mom's voice soothed, "calm down. You can do this. You won't breathe, you can communicate telepathically. Just take a deep breath now, and we'll go." There was no arguing. Mom was using her I'm-not-mad-yet-but-I-will-be-soon tone. So, I took a deep breath and headed towards the house, Mom and Dad holding hands behind me.

Zach was in the kitchen eating. He was so engrossed; he didn't hear me come in. Or maybe it was because I was a vampire and too quiet. Well, here goes the great reunion. One of us is a wreck, and the other's face is stuffed with food.

_Zach?_ I called to him with my mind. His head jerked up a bit, and he swallowed his food. He was obviously waiting for me to start talking. I prepared myself, still not breathing.

_Turn around._ And, slowly, as though he couldn't believe it, he did. And when he saw me, he let out a little yelp of joy (which was kind of strange…….) and jumped off the stool he had been sitting on. He ran over and hugged me.

_Must…not….move! _I screamed at myself. My self-discipline was slipping; and I was trying desperately to keep it up. _But look at his neck,_ the darker side of me coaxed, _look at the pulse. Just one nibble. Go on._ My hand twitched as if to reach out and trace his carotid, but I forced it still. _No, no, no! _I forcefully commanded myself, _I can't! That's Zach. It'll be okay. Don't, don't, don't._ I could feel the burn in the back of my throat. It would be much worse if I breathed, but just imagining it ignited the flame. I saw Dad flinch slightly at the goings on in my mind. Mom noticed.

"Zach, pull back," she said, trying not to say it in a way to make me feel bad, but not in a way that Zach would take it as a suggestion. He pulled away, confused. That confusion vanished, though, when he looked at my eyes. I could just imagine what he was seeing; I'd seen it often enough. My eyes, pitch black, and my whole body ridged with desire.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, Liz," he said. I could see he blamed himself. I grinned, though it probably looked fake.

_Sorry, says the human to the freaky, out of control vampire,_ I joked. Zach smiled back, appreciating my attempt at humor. I could tell, even though he didn't actually say it, he wanted to tell me I wasn't freaky. Thankfully, though, he decided to drop it.

"I've missed you, Liz. I know it's stupid; I've been talking to you on the webcam at least once a day, but still. It's great to have you back." I shifted uncomfortably. Apparently Zach thought I was permanently home, which was not the case. I was just here for a bit so I could gradually get used to being home and around Zach and Nita. Later we would bring Ashley into the equation. Much, much later; I shuddered when I thought of being in the same room with her, how dangerous that would be. I ducked my head, not really sure how to tell him I would be leaving again. Thankfully, Mom noticed.

"Zach, we're not staying. We're taking it a bit at a time."

"But you are going to start visiting," Zach pushed.

"Yes, we are. Of course."

"Well, then," Zach stated with the air of someone winning an argument, "she _is_ back. I still get to see her in person."

I heard Uncle Emmett laugh in the garage. Saying I heard his laughter _come from _the garage wouldn't be right; I heard it before it had the chance to leave the garage. I could hear he was in with the snuffling and shuffling movements of a large animal. I had been technically hearing these snuffling, shuffling sounds almost constantly since I came within vampire-hearing distance of the house, but I had tuned it out. The only exception was during my momentary loss of control with Zach. But now, I couldn't help the longing I felt to see my friend again. I had been able to talk to all my loved ones over webcam, minus Nita. Our relationship was not one where two-way communication can take place over a distance. Zach noticed, of course.

"Come on, then. You already know how to get there, I'm sure. Sheesh, this is Liz, for you. Vampire talents and abilities beyond the imagination, and she uses them to find a bear," Zach continued being over-dramatic all the way to the garage. Where, had I kept my head, nothing would have happened. But I didn't, and something did.

Uncle Emmett was 'stalking' Nita. Even at the time, it had been obvious he was just playing around. Later, I learned Uncle Emmett and Nita had an okay relationship, despite Uncle Emmett's preference for bears when hunting. It wasn't as though they were close really; theirs was a joking, playing around, humorous relationship. But something clicked in my mind about Uncle Emmett's preference and him stalking Nita, and I snapped. I was under a lot of stress, as well, which definitely help contribute to my reaction.

"UNCLE EMMETT!" I yelled, which wouldn't have been a problem if I had been human. But I wasn't, and yelling purged the oxygen from my body. I still could've held my breath, but in that moment the instinct to inhale gripped me as air once again attempted to begin its cycle. So I breathed in. And lost it. The sweet scent of Zach's and Nita's blood summoned me; it permeated the air in the small, enclosed space. The room was saturated with it; it begged me to come and drink. But I couldn't; I had enough sense left to remember I loved them. So inside me, the dark and light sides of me fought in battle; one craving blood and one repulsed by the idea. I was disconnected from my body, concentrating on the fight. I was unsure which side I wanted to win.

**Zach POV:**

"UNCLE EMMETT!" Liz yelled. Then, she started to shake. Her hands clenched at her sides, and her head bowed. Her body's shaking slowed, but she shook her head. Her head didn't stop shaking.

"Zach! Shield yourself and Nita! Emmett, go get Jasper!" Dad delegated duties. I obligingly, if a little hurriedly, shielded Nita and myself. Dad's tone revealed what I hadn't seen; Liz must have taken a breath.

"No, you might need me. Bella can go!" Uncle Emmett stood as close as he could to Liz without infringing on her space.

"No!" Mom refused. It was obvious she wasn't going to go anywhere. We all knew we needed Dad there, with his ability to read Liz's mind.

"I'll go," I shocked even myself by saying.

"Zach, you can't. You'd never make it quickly enough," Dad's clipped tone didn't gloss over how I wasn't as athletic as the rest of the family. Athletic was a loose interpretation, but close enough.

"I'll ride Nita. You all stay here. We'll be out of the way just in case until Uncle Jasper gets here, and there'll be three vampires instead of two," without anyone's consent, I pointed Nita in the right direction and hopped on before she took off. If there was one thing I had learned, it was if you want to do something, just do it.

In a few minutes, we reached the house Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper were staying in. They had moved close, so Uncle Jasper could help Liz. I burst in the door without bothering to ring the doorbell, leaving a panting Nita outside.

"UNCLE JASPER!" I called (rather loudly) as I stumbled over the welcome mat. Well, we don't have one at home! How am I supposed to avoid it if I don't know it's there?! Uncle Jasper, who obviously had heard the desperation in my voice, was down the stairs in a flash.

"What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Liz. She… breathed in…. and smelled me…. and Nita…and now she's…stuck in…some weird…between… state. She's not…trying to… kill us… but she's not…completely sane." I gasped out. Nita had run so fast the air had been forced down my throat. It had been very difficult to breathe.

"Tell your aunt where I'm going," was all he said before he ran out. Aunt Alice glided gracefully down the stairs.

"I already know," she said before I could even open my mouth to let her know where Uncle Jasper had gone. _Of course she knows_, I thought, grinning. Good old physic Aunt Alice.

"Okay," I shrugged. I wanted to get back to the house, but Nita wasn't going anywhere anytime in the near future. The only way to get home would be for Aunt Alice to carry me and Nita come back when she could make it. Aunt Alice, though, didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry.

"Zach!" I looked up in surprise. In all the commotion, I had forgotten Ash had had a sleepover here. She and Aunt Alice had grown relatively close, and Ash really couldn't be around with Liz in the house. Ash ran down the stairs. Not at a vampire speed, since she was human; but maybe a human pace was best. It gave me time to open my arms for her. She snuggled into my chest, and I just held her.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"Liz sort of lost control. I came to get Uncle Jasper," I replied. She looked up at me, confused.

"Sort of? How did she _sort of_ lose control?"

"She's done with her first year, so not technically a newborn, and in more control of herself. But she's not _completely_ in control. So, she's just standing there all rigid, shaking her head, trying to figure out what to do." I found it easier to explain than I had thought it would be. I held Ashley for a bit longer before I heard a distraught, depressed, ashamed, embarrassed, sorry voice in my head.

_I'm sorry, Zach. I'm so, so sorry._ I wished I could tell her how much I loved her, and how much I didn't blame her.

* * *


	21. Extra2: Liz's first webcam with Ashley

**Ashley POV:**

I was staying with the Cullens. Specifically, Zach's Aunt Rosalie (who happened to be his godmother) and his Uncle Emmett. The Cullens were going to have to move soon, and I had decided I couldn't be separated from Zach. So, even though I felt so bad about it, I had never gone home. My own parents probably thought I was dead. The phone rang. A few seconds later, Zach's Aunt Rosalie called down the stairs to me.

"Hey, Ashley. Go to the webcam." So I went into the study and closed the doors. I wanted to be in private; who knew who I was going to be talking to? Goodness knows I didn't expect the face I saw on the screen.

Liz's face, yet not her face. Her eyes were slightly duller than when she had first woken into her vampire life, but they were still a bright, blood red. Her hair was beautiful, shiny and lustrous to the extreme. Except on her, nothing could look extreme.

"_Liz?_" I heard myself ask, though I hadn't meant to. Oh, please. Is my subconscious so stupid it can't tell who she is? Liz looked sort of embarrassed.

"Yeah, I know. I look way different. But you look great; you're gaining weight," She looked horrified at herself right then. "Oh, geez. I can't believe I just said that! Gaining weight in a good way. You were way too skinny. Not that you looked bad or anything… oh man. I just keep digging my grave deeper and deeper, don't I?" I laughed.

"Open mouth, insert foot," I joked. I was glad she had said what she did. I know I was way too thin.

"Yeah," Liz replied. She was looked slightly crazed and not herself; she looked like she was beginning to tremble.

"Liz? I questioned, worried, "What's wrong? Liz?"

"Nothing. Nothing. _Nothing!_" she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

"Er, okay," Zach had explained to me that at some point Liz would be talking to us over webcam. He had explained the newborn-vampire-fundamentals to me. I knew I couldn't say anything that would make it sound like I was saying she was lying. I was afraid if I pushed the subject after she said nothing was wrong, it would sound like I was calling her a liar.

"It's just… the emotions. They're so overwhelming; so intense. I just can't… handle it. Uncle Jasper is up here all the time now. And it's just so…so… I don't know…. to have to be watched all the time," the shaking was getting worse; I almost couldn't see her she was such a blur. "And I _know_ it's necessary. I… UGH!" her shaking reached a peak, and she stopped talking. All I could hear were growls coming out of her chest. They weren't loud; you almost couldn't hear them through the webcam. She leaped up so fast I didn't see it actually happen, and broke the back off the chair. I heard a door open on Liz's side of the connection.

"Liz?" Liz's Uncle Jasper looked at the screen, and saw me looking back; I could just _imagine_ how I looked. I knew I had caused this and I felt horribly about it. I didn't even want to know what he thought of me. "Hold on, one minute, Ashley," he said to the camera. He turned it to face a wall, presumably to give Liz some privacy, but I could still hear.

"GET_ AWAY FROM ME!" _Liz shrieked. She never would have done that in her right mind. I could hear her hissing and snapping.

"Liz, calm. Calm! Don't…" I heard a crash and the crunch of someone getting up at an incredible speed. Liz growled like an animal that had been thrown around.

"Think, Liz! Calm down," he was saying. I knew his 'gift' so to speak. I wondered why he was telling her to calm down when he could just influence her. "Just a little," he coaxed. Liz just hissed. "Liz, calm," he soothed. Abruptly, Liz cut off her snarling. She started breathing rapidly. She sounded like she was crying; no, sobbing. But vampires don't cry. Come to think of it, actually, they must. Maybe they just don't have tears.

"I…I…I…" I she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Liz," her Uncle Jasper soothed.

"No, it's _not!_" she yelled the last part.

"Liz, you need to calm down again. Now." He replied in a military sort of manner. Where did he get that from? (**A/N She's just so clueless!**)

"Right." She sounded better. I heard her sit again, and take another deep breath.

"You okay now?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. I heard the door close, and Liz turned the camera around to face her. She looked terrible; there was glass in her hair and on the floor. No blood, though, of course.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Oh, yeah, brilliant, Ashley. Were you _not_ alive for the past ten minutes?!

"Ha. No," she replied, "but I fine for now." I was hesitant to ask my next question, but I was really curious. So I made it less blunt but brought the topic into conversation.

"You know you have glass in your hair, right?" I asked. It was better than asking her what happened.

"Yeah," her expression bittered, "I jumped at Uncle Jasper, but he moved. I ran head first into the glass bowl," she looked worried, "Mom liked it. I need an excuse." I grinned, this was familiar to me. The two of us, conspiring together.

"Tell her… there was a bug on it. You forgot it was glass, so you swatted it." We both dissolved into giggles at the ridiculousness of the idea.

"Liz! We're leaving!" I heard Mr. Cullen call up to Liz. Though I knew the whole family, I always thought of Zach's parents as the Mr. and Mrs. Cullens.

"I… uh… I gotta go," Liz hastily said, "Mom and Dad don't really like waiting."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Uh," Liz looked around like she was trying to avoid the question. I instantly felt bad. Like I couldn't tell from her tone when she told me she had to go that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Forget it, never mind. Talk later! I'm keeping an eye on Nita," I tried to rescue her.

"Naw, it's alright. We're… hunting," she tried to say it nonchalantly, but she not-so-discreetly looked at my face to appraise my reaction. I kept my face carefully under control.

"Oh, well, have fun! Hope you catch something good!" I tried to sound like I knew what I was saying. I had no idea the proper wish of good tidings for vampires going hunting. Liz smiled, grateful I hadn't gotten upset.

"Wolves." And then she clicked off her computer.


End file.
